Through the Clouds, Love Shines
by DeniBear
Summary: Rachel suffers from an unfortunate accident in which she temporarily ends up in a coma/purgatory. When she wakes up, she doesn't remember the incident but she knows something is terribly off – the world she left isn't the one she wakes up to. When she finds herself back at McKinley, she unknowingly attracts the attentions of popular head Cheerio, Kristine Hummel. AU- Genderswap
1. Not So Normal Circumstances

Through the Clouds, Love Shines  
_Rachel Berry x (Gender swap!Kurt Hummel)_

**Disclaimer:** _I don't own Glee._

**Rating: M **_(For language and adult situations)_

**Summary**: Alternate Universe – _Rachel suffers from an unfortunate accident in which she temporarily ends up in a coma/purgatory. When she wakes up, she doesn't remember the incident but she knows something is terribly off – the world she left isn't the one she wakes up to. Most of her friends have become the opposite gender, homosexuality is completely normal while heterosexuality is a major issue, especially if it's interracial, and her loving fathers have instead become nurturing mothers. Not only is she a new student at William McKinley but she's attracted the attentions of popular Cheerio and glee club captain Kristine Hummel and she's become conflicted with her own sexual identity. Whether she's brought back to her old life or not, it's entirely up to Rachel to figure out what went wrong in her previous life before making that choice._

**Notes:** Loosely based off the LGBTQA film, _Almost Normal. _Just a bit of a warning; racism is involved in this first chapter but it's to fully convey the severity of a certain situation.

Rachel hates taking the subway late at night. She doesn't understand how Brody could brave the cold nights waiting for each train to transport him from one location to the other before waiting again and transferring to a different train. She sighs, clutching onto her schoolbag tightly while fiddling with her phone, sending a text to Kurt and a similar message to Adam in case one or the other was busy. She was terrified, she certainly didn't want to keep her best friend and his boyfriend up late at night just so she could come home to both pairs of welcoming arms but it would be nice especially since she accidentally left her key on the kitchen counter. When her phone buzzed again, she had received an immediate reply from Kurt that had her sighing again but this time in relief. He had informed her that he had been concerned about her late practice in Ms. July's studio that he and Adam decided to meet up with her at the subway station in order to escort her home safely. She rolled her eyes at the comment he made about being man enough to know it's not safe for a beautiful single lady to walk these New York streets alone, unlike Brody who was too much of a coward to ensure his lady's safety.

Resisting the urge to reply with a snarky comment of her own, Rachel shot out a quick text before she glanced up and took notice of her surroundings. The night life was bustling, a few strange faces here and there but as long as she kept to herself and made it look like she was stoic and busy, creepers would surely leave her alone. She gasped when she felt a sharp pain in her shoulder, nearly losing balance when she turned around to see who was responsible for being so rude and inconsiderate. Her eyes fell upon a young man in a sleeveless jean jacket and skinny ripped jeans hurriedly rushing past the crowd. The culprit had been glaring at her the entire time since walking away from shoulder checking her so hard. Rachel swallowed nervously, but she would not let her fear show. "Hooligan, didn't your mother teach you any manners?! Excuse me would have been a sufficient enough warning for me to move aside for you!" She called out, drawing attention from curious bystanders before they decided to no longer pay any mind. The young man with a mohawk that rivaled Puck's narrowed his eyes, quickly raising a hand to flip her off before turning his attention to a few buddies that had caught up with him.

Stomping her feet, Rachel huffed and walked further away from the group of trouble makers. She'd prefer to keep to herself if she could help it, she didn't want any trouble at the subway station. This whole situation was unsettling, where were Kurt and Adam? Suddenly, her phone rang and checking the caller id, it was none other than Kurt and she immediately hit the _'answer'_ button. "Kurt, where are you? I'm absolutely mortified, you wouldn't believe what just happened to me." She could have gone on and on but she stopped speaking when she heard her roommate's extremely obnoxious yawn. She still had that notorious issue with inconsistent rambling; it was something she definitely couldn't help. "Oh dear, I almost dozed off for a minute there. Hello Rachel, I just called to inform you that we're here but we're on the opposite side of the station where you're supposed to be. You can tell us all about your misadventures on the way home." Kurt had said with a sing song tone to his voice. Rachel smiled, but immediately frowned afterwards when she realized what he had said. She looked up around the station to pinpoint the location of the signs she needed to read and when she had, her shoulders drooped when she found that she was indeed on the wrong side of the station.

"Kurt!" She whined, "I must have not been paying attention. Give me a few minutes to walk around the walkway to meet you, okay sweetheart? I can't see you by the way, where are you!?" Rachel craned her neck and walked around the scattered crowd near the tracks to catch a glimpse of Kurt and Adam. When she caught sight of her roommate and his boyfriend, who were very easy to spot in a crowd, she grinned and started bouncing in place. Adam was the first to notice the small girl jumping around across the station and gently nudged Kurt, the young soprano finally meeting Rachel's gaze. He waved enthusiastically at the young ingénue before they both mutually hung up their phones. Rachel was genuinely happy that she could count on Kurt at the end of a long day to be there for her. When the petite singer stepped back to walk over to where her friends were waiting, she hadn't been counting on running into something solid and lean. When she looked up, fear had been instantly instilled into her system. The young hooligan who had flipped her off had the audacity to follow her, his presence overwhelming due to his lengthy and discomforting appearance.

Unfortunately, he wasn't alone; his equally hideous buddies who she suspected to be skinheads were staring at her with an evil glint in their eyes.

Assessing the situation quickly, Kurt and Adam panicked and began running towards the walkway, yelling at the young men who were threatening Rachel's personal space. "Hey! Rachel just walk away, we're coming! Whatever you do, don't stay put! We're on our way!" Adam had puffed out his chest, grabbing hold of Kurt's hand as they tried to make their way across the station as quickly as they could. Rachel gulped but stood her ground, carefully noting where she had been standing as she tried to back away from the young men. "So you think you were bein' cute and ballsy talking all that shit back there little girly?" The man she had yelled at for being so disrespectful asked loudly, trying to create a scene so they could have an audience. She could appreciate his need for drama but this was serious, and she wanted nothing more than to put an end to this unruly sociopath. "I don't understand why you feel the need to confront somebody you were clearly being rude to. An apology would be appreciated but given the unpleasant circumstances, I'd actually rather you leave me be so I can go home unscathed." Rachel said as politely as she could, her hand reaching into her pocket to pull out the rape whistle she so desperately wanted to use at that moment.

"Fuckin' kike, who do you think you are talking to us like that? Look at that big ol' schnoz of hers, sticking it in other people's business where it doesn't belong. Let me just remind you of your place…your kind belongs in the oven. I'll show what happens when you fuck with me and my crew." One of his bulkier friends replied, reaching out for a piece of clothing but instead had latched onto her book bag. Panic quickly arising, Rachel for some reason felt it was incredibly important to hold on to it when in reality she should have let go and ran away as far as she could. '_It's okay, it's okay, Adam and Kurt are on their way. Just stand your ground, they only intend to scare you until outsiders intervene.'_ She thought to herself while yelling out for help but to no avail. The people nearby were simply watching, too stunned to defend her or too careless to make a move. The latter idea seemed unfortunately more practical and for that reason tears started forming in her eyes as she fought tooth and nail to keep her book bag to herself. "Unhand my personal belongings you fiends, unless you want me to call the cops then I suggest you leave me alone NOW!" She shrieked, the sound of the incoming trains alerting her to possible interference with authority figures. Someone must have alerted security by now, this was quite stressful and absolutely ridiculous. Then, she heard a familiar voice, one that soothed her to her very core. "Rachel! Let go, just let go!" Kurt called out, making an appearance with Adam as they both charged at the group harassing his best friend.

The misbehaved men certainly weren't craving this kind of attention so they ultimately decided to let her go, all they wanted to do was frighten the petite singer to send a message and nothing more. The bulky skinhead simply grunted and reluctantly released his hold on Rachel's book bag, unintentionally adding power to the release and it ended up pushing the younger girl back a few steps who had been pulling just as hard. Unfortunately for the NYADA student, it was a few steps too many and the brunette lost her balance when she attempted to regain her composure. With the threat of the oncoming train, Rachel lost sight of where she was and fell backwards onto the tracks. The skinhead almost looked mortified for a second as he realized what he had done, glancing up at the train before turning his attention back to the girl who had fallen onto the tracks. This time, the surrounding crowd began panicking and ran over to finally lend their assistance to the unfortunate victim of harassment. The punk hesitated for a moment before he shook his head and ran off in the opposite direction with his buddies.

"RACHEL! GET UP, PLEASE GET UP! I'M ON MY WAY, PLEASE GET UP AND GIVE ME YOUR HAND!"

"Oh my god, somebody help her!"

"Damn son, that shit ain't right! I'm coming young lady, just hold on!"

The voices. The sound of the train heading her way and the screeching of the brakes told her she was no longer in a safe place. She had to act quickly. When Rachel looked up, fear flooded her entire body as an icy cold chill ran through the base of her spine. The headlights were too bright and the operator banged on the window as he screamed, "Get out of the way, get out of the way!" Kurt ran over to where she had fallen, Adam holding him steady as he tried to reach out for the smaller girl. They didn't have a lot of time, Rachel didn't have a lot of time. When the diva tried to jump off the tracks, something had caught on to a part of her shoe and she was stuck, she was actually stuck and in a panic, Rachel was desperately rushing to pull out of this. "K-Kurt, I can't move! I can't move, I'm stuck, oh my god, Kurt, I can't! My ankle, it hurts!" She screamed, her eyes full of tears and the sickening realization that there was nothing she could do about it fell upon her. Rachel's jaw dropped as she turned to face imminent death approaching her before looking back into the eyes of someone she loved for the final few seconds of her life. Kurt swallowed hard, his eyes widening as he met Rachel's terrified gaze one last time, Adam screaming and forcing Kurt backwards just in time before the train rushed past them. There was a scream for one everlasting second before it had been drowned out by a horrifying crunching sound.

There was blood. Kurt looked down at his hands and he realized there was blood splattered on him, _Rachel's_ blood. Unable to say anything, there was a choked sobbing sound that came out of him instead, his entire world falling apart in a matter of seconds. Adam was saying something, something tragic and unfamiliar and it scared him. All he could hear was static as the traumatic image of Rachel passing before his eyes haunted him. This was a nightmare, this just had to be. There was no way something like this could take his best friend's life, he couldn't accept it. He felt strong arms wrap around him, whispered words of "I'm so sorry" and that's when it struck Kurt; Rachel Barbra Berry was gone and there was nothing he could do about it except for sob uncontrollably onto broad shoulders.

This didn't happen, this couldn't have happened, except it did.

As for Rachel, the last thing she could remember seeing before the incident was Kurt's angelic face before her whole world suddenly turned white. Into the nothingness, her soul was swept away by a strong magnificent source and it was actually soothing. For the first time in a long time, Rachel finally felt at peace. There were no thoughts or ill wishes, bad feelings or horrible memories, or even dreams that followed her in this deep slumber she found herself in. It was so relaxing, yet she didn't know where she was or what she was exactly seeing. In fact, she couldn't see anything for quite some time. What felt like hours was actually seconds that had passed before she heard something familiar, the sound of her alarm. What was happening?

* * *

'_Ain't nothin' gonna break my stride  
Nobody's gonna slow me down, oh-no  
I got to keep on movin'…'_

Wide, terrified brown eyes snapped open after being shut after what felt like an eternity. Rachel was groggy but the sound of her favorite motivational song didn't fool her; she was home. But how did she end up back in Ohio when she was in New York attending NYADA? She stirred in bed, only to feel a horrible ache in her thighs and an awful throbbing pain pounding against her head. What happened? The last thing she remembered was saying good morning to Brody before she had left for class. The singer sat up quickly against her headboard, her heart rate picking up the moment she realized she had no idea what was happening and how she ended up back at home was beyond her. That wasn't all that felt off. When Rachel released her hair from the half assed ponytail she apparently assembled before bed, she noticed two things: her hair was back to black and she was wearing the same pink pajamas she had worn back when she was a sophomore in high school. Her throat immediately dried up, something was wrong, this wasn't right. Was she dreaming or was this some kind of awful prank Kurt had come up with?

"Oh. My. God. W-what's going on?" Rachel finally found herself asking aloud as her eyes scanned the entirely familiar bedroom that seemed a bit different for some reason. Her eyes fell upon a certain portrait that was reserved especially for the family photo; she gasped at the sight. There she was wearing her favorite animal sweater from high school but her fathers were no longer in the picture. Standing behind her with their hands upon her shoulder was her biological mother, Shelby Corcoran, and former guidance counselor, Emma Pilsbury. They looked so happy together, it was nauseating. Those weren't her fathers, that wasn't Leroy or Hiram Berry posing with her in the family photo. That wasn't her family. This wasn't what it seemed like anymore; where the hell was she? Rachel gulped, clutching her bed sheets tightly before she thought of reacting to this situation in what she deemed a reasonable manner; she shut her eyes and she screamed as loud as she possibly could.

* * *

Please read and review if you liked it, I would like to know if I should continue this or not. If you're not into romantic Hummelberry, please don't read it if you don't like it. I don't want to force anyone to like something they're not into. :) Anyway, please enjoy my take on this pairing in a parallel universe!


	2. Keep Calm, Carry On

**Keep Calm, Carry On**

**Notes:** Thank you all for the lovely reviews, it looks like I'll keep this series going. (: Please continue to leave any constructive criticism or comments if you have any!

'_Once I rose above the noise and confusion  
Just to get a glimpse beyond this illusion  
I was soaring ever higher, but I flew too high'_

Rachel couldn't remember how she ended up in this unfamiliar place, no matter how hard she concentrated; she couldn't pinpoint the events of the night before she ended up here. Upon her awakening, she observed her environment and panicked once she processed the fact that this wasn't the home she had been familiar with previously. She was stuck in a nightmare, she was certain of it. The last thing she recalled was this strange emptiness she felt when she had been sleeping, and that's what bothered her the most. She knew something in her life had gone unfulfilled and that never ending hunger for the knowledge for what transpired before waking up to_ this_ would torment her until she could finally figure everything out. It was terrifying, really, to carry memories from her previous life to this strange new world she couldn't quite understand yet. The moment she had begun screaming, she'd heard something crash to the floor from downstairs and a familiar voice belonging to somebody she held so much resentment for.

"Rachel, baby, what's wrong!? I'm coming!" Shelby's voice echoed throughout her former home and it was unsettling. Hearing that voice again so suddenly caused Rachel's throat to constrict; she wasn't quite ready to interact with her mother just yet. Dread overwhelmed the singer at that very moment, still terrified that this was the world she had woken up to and she felt ever so lost as it seemed like she had been forced to backtrack a few years for reasons still unbeknownst to her. She still doesn't know how something like this could be possible, this had to be an elaborate nightmare of some kind. Rachel jumped out of bed as soon as she heard footsteps pounding on the stairs outside of her bedroom and quickly shot out of her bedroom door to lock herself in the bathroom. There was absolutely no way she would willingly confront her mother who had no business being here with her right now. As soon as she slammed the door shut, the knob began turning and Rachel made it a point to lock it as to keep the intruder on the opposite side of the door. "Don't come in, please don't come in! I-I'm not feeling well, please stay out." She called out weakly, her voice quivering with terror and anxiety.

"Rachel, I'm your mother. I've changed your diapers and I've seen you at your worst, there's nothing that's coming out of you that will make me love you any less. Let me check your forehead." Shelby replied, her fingers lightly rapping on the door as if that could convince Rachel to let her in. The singer blushed at the words that had been said to her but they also confused her. The first thing she remembered being told by her fathers was that she was adopted, that the surrogate had only intended to give the Berry men what they desperately craved and she would be out of Rachel's life forever. Only to have that stripped away from her when she contacted the younger girl before immediately pulling away from her with disinterest and ended up adopting her arch enemy's daughter that had been conceived through pre-marital shenanigans. It hurt her so badly thinking about it and she couldn't keep the hurt out of her voice despite the fact _this_ Shelby wouldn't have a clue as to what she was feeling. "Don't worry about me. I'm a grown woman who is perfectly capable of handling this kind of situation on her own, just go. I'll be okay; I don't need your help." She replied, wiping away the tears that had formed. She couldn't believe this was happening, it was surreal and it just didn't seem quite right.

Shelby sighed, her concern for Rachel's well being infuriating and comforting Rachel at the same time. "Okay, well I hope it's nothing serious. Your mom and I certainly don't want you going to McKinley feeling ill, especially since it's your first day. We've got your schedule and breakfast smoothie ready to go. See you in a few minutes sweetie." Her words before she left struck Rachel hard like lightning, it burned and it left Rachel speechless for a moment before she forced herself to look in the mirror. She swallowed hard, bringing her hand up to cover her mouth in absolute shock. She looked younger than she did from days before, it was never too difficult to tell her age. Before the bangs, before she had dipped the ends of her hair in a pot of honey gold to keep up with the trends, before NYADA and Brody…she was back to being the old Rachel for real this time. She touched her face and she felt oddly powerful, as if she felt _happier_ being her old self again. Something strange and mysterious happened to her and she wanted to know what and why. For some odd reason, it felt like she was being given a second chance to start all over again. While Rachel needed some time to figure things out, she had to put up a front to fit in because this universe was just too different to understand so far and she hadn't explored the world outside her former home yet.

Rachel sighed, took a few more deep breaths before deciding to go with the flow in order to analyze this strange situation. She was going to get dressed for her first day at McKinley apparently and although reliving her sophomore days in high school was an idea that she could hardly bear, she had to do it. She needed to see what had changed and what she needed to do to piece her old life back together again. First thing's first, she had to go downstairs and face whatever that was awaiting her in the dining room. Baby steps were important, right?

After what felt like an eternity, Rachel finally made her way downstairs and almost immediately, she wanted to vomit. Everything had changed; from the décor to the furniture and to the hundreds of portraits of their strange little family that somewhat reminded her of the previous life she had left behind. It was all so overwhelming and nauseating…

"Good morning, my little golden star. Did you wake up from another nightmare again or was there a spider in your room again? I told your mother to take care of that little problem after the incident in our bedroom the other night." Emma Pillsbury's voice had startled Rachel out of the brief trance she was under. There was no way her former high school guidance counselor could be talking to her like that, there was just absolutely no way. Rachel couldn't respond, she stared wide eyed as the red headed woman walked around her kitchen wearing a sexy satin robe to randomly run her fingers through Rachel's hair. Shelby had snuck up behind Emma and wrapped her arms around the smaller woman's waist before pulling Emma close to her, kissing up the woman's neck until their lips met in a passionate kiss. Shelby Corcoran and Emma Pillsbury were making out in front of her. Emma Pillsbury and Shelby Corcoran were married and they were making out in front of her. Emma freakin' Pillsbury and Shelby Corcoran were her mothers, they were happily married and they were making out in front of her. "Oh my god, I need to get out of here." Rachel awkwardly blurted out, hoping that it didn't seem homophobic although she had gotten used to being around affectionate gay men who loved each other. Any teenager who had to witness their parents making out would want to gouge out their eyes; it was a completely normal reaction.

Emma and Shelby laughed affectionately, their noses rubbing against each other before the women reluctantly pulled away. Shelby had picked up a few important looking papers from the table and handed them to Rachel while the younger girl picked up her smoothie to down it as fast as she possibly could. This was too strange, she needed to be around her friends again, if they were still there. She needed Kurt more than anyone at that very moment. "Oh Rachel, just you wait until you find the woman you're meant to be with for the rest of your life and then you'll understand what it's like to be in love. Of course she would need our approval, you're too good for just anyone, honey." Shelby told her, kissing her on the forehead before leading Rachel out the front door. Rachel was stunned, as much as she wanted to laugh at Shelby's statement, the words felt comforting when it was in fact the strangest thing she'd ever heard in her life. She was strictly into men, how could Shelby assume her sexuality when she knew absolutely nothing about her?

Just as Rachel was about to reply, Emma had interrupted quite loudly and ran into the living room, turning up the volume of the television. "Shh, they're going to announce whether or not they'll recognize heterosexual marriage equality in Colorado!"

That sentence definitely seemed out of place, there was no way she could have heard that correctly, could she? As the three women gathered around the television set, they watched as the news anchor gave an in depth analysis of the situation and from what Rachel gathered from the man's tone of voice, he definitely did not approve of heterosexuality for reasons beyond her comprehension. What she heard within that ten minute segment shocked her to her very core. Colorado was going to be the first state in the country to formally recognize opposite sex civil unions as the bill that would completely legalize heterosexual marriage was still attempting to be passed. Rachel was appalled to say the least, that bit of news giving her quite the ugly reality check telling her that this world was no longer what she was once used to. She had remained silent during the car ride to school as she listened to Shelby and Emma(because using the term mothers still sounded way off to her) debating about heterosexual marriage. Shelby found it incredibly distasteful, using words such as "breeders", "straights", and "perverts" to describe people who were born straight while Emma was attempting to dissuade her. It felt so unreal, this just had to be a dream and Rachel was going to wake up from it soon. At least she'd hoped.

When they finally pulled into the parking lot, Shelby was still heated but when she turned to face Rachel who seemed uncomfortable in the back seat, her expression softened. "Rach, you're going to be just fine. You'll make a lot of friends, and with your talent, I'm sure you'll be attracting quite a few ladies with that powerful voice of yours so you go out there and strut your stuff babe. We'll see you at home. Good luck honey!" Shelby called out as Rachel got out of the car as quickly as she could. Rachel weakly waved goodbye as she turned to face destiny, hoping that all of that had just been a horrible figment of her imagination. As much as her experience in high school killed her, this could be the source of comfort she was looking for. She just needed to find Kurt, if she could.

* * *

She turned out to be horribly wrong about this entire situation being a figment of her imagination, it only turned out that this surreal experience was indeed her twisted reality, a reality she wasn't quite comfortable with. It was too bizarre. She walked towards the main entrance observing the students who walked past her, the teachers and how they behaved around each other. Jocks were holding hands, cheerleaders making out and petting one another underneath the bleachers and geeks, both the boys and girls, were shamelessly flirting with some of the metal heads and various other misfits that surrounded them. Rachel's jaw dropped at the sight; never before had McKinley had been this welcoming towards the gay community before. Perhaps policies have changed? When Rachel stopped by the dumpster where Kurt had constantly been tossed into the dumpster by Noah Puckerman, she noticed something oddly familiar about the students who stood nearby. There were two jocks sporting letterman jackets who were most obviously a couple by the way the blond male possessively draped his arm around the slightly smaller Hispanic boy who seemed to be blushing at the sign of public affection. Next to them stood a lanky misfit with an impressive pink Mohawk while he held somebody down, presumably somebody that they were about to throw into the dumpster.

Rachel gasped as she stepped closer to the group of familiar looking students, realizing the one that they had been holding down was Finn Hudson with crude marks being drawn all over his face by the girls who tagged along with the guys. The tallest of the girls was the mastermind of the operation, barking out orders at the exotic beauty with a Mohawk of her own who happily complied with what she was being told to do. The brunette carefully tossed her beautiful curly mane over her shoulder as she demanded to be given the marker so she could write one last thing on Finn's forehead: "BREEDER". She laughed along with the rest of her friends as she watched the misfit carelessly toss the gigantic seventeen year old into the dumpster. Rachel couldn't move. Her mouth remained agape as she watched the group walk away from their victim but not before they threw a slew of insults at him.

"Filthy hetero, you know better than to stare at Kristine's tits. Totes gross, dude bros. No offense, K."

"Breeders are so disgusting. Like this planet wasn't overpopulated enough. Your genes wouldn't be good enough for pussy anyway, retard."

"He's so straight, it's wrong. Aren't all straights going to end up rapists anyway because they can't get what they want from us normal folk? Fuck, we gotta stick together. People like him make me fuckin' sick."

They had completely missed the fact that Rachel had witnessed the entire scene and the group continued making their way to the school. As soon as she could, Rachel ran to where Finn had been carelessly dumped and her heart broke at the sound of Finn's crying. The petite singer climbed the dumpster, hoping to reach the young boy easily. When Finn looked up, he flinched when he saw that Rachel had outstretched her arm. When he assessed that it was okay to grab a hold of her hand, he hesitated for a moment before he went for it. Rachel held on tight as she pulled and he pushed his way out. "That was so wrong of them. I don't understand why they would do that to you. Are you okay, Finn?" Finn was adjusting himself before he tilted his head in confusion, narrowing his eyes at Rachel suspiciously.

"I'm sorry, but do I know you? I don't think I've seen you around here before and I'm a junior here." His voice lacked the confidence it had once upon a time, it wasn't right. Rachel resisted the urge to cry as she remembered that this was no longer the universe she had been so familiar with before. This was her chance to start over. Rachel eyed the markings on his arms and pointed at a particular crude message that said "Finn Hudson is a straight rapist. Beware!"

"I'm assuming that is your name, correct? Look, I-I just transferred here and it's my first day but I couldn't help but notice that you were in trouble. Now, are you okay? Do you know why they did this to you?" Rachel replied impatiently, folding her arms as she demanded an immediate response. It killed her when Finn seemed genuinely surprised that somebody would lend him a hand. He bit his lip, shaking his head at the tiny girl who had yet to be tainted by the community. "Since you're new, I'll spare your reputation. If they see you talking to me, you'll be next on their list and it wouldn't be fair of me to drag you down with me. This is my life, it's my fault for being different so you go your way and take it easy. Thanks for you help." He mumbled awkwardly as he turned to face the direction of where the entrance was and walked towards the school with his head down in shame. Rachel's heart shattered to pieces. What had happened to Kurt in his previous life was happening to Finn yet no matter if the roles were reversed, it must have been equally painful to face this kind of prejudice everyday. Rachel hated this, she didn't want to see the people she cared about suffering the way she did and the way Kurt had. They didn't deserve this. She was going to get to the bottom of this and put a stop to suffering of any kind. She braced herself by puffing out her chest and bravely followed Finn into McKinley.

Classes had come and gone easily without a hitch, Rachel already knew she was going to excel academically as she once did a few years before this incident occurred. What she wasn't expecting was the positive attention she would be receiving from her fellow classmates, the female student population to be more precise. As she walked around wearing her blazer, short skirt, typical knee highs and Mary Jane's with her books pressed tightly against her chest, some of the girls that had walked past her wolf whistled at her. It was unnerving yet…flattering at the same time. Rachel blushed and looked away when one of the Cheerios met her gaze and licked her lips. The nerve of some people! She did end up making some interestingly familiar acquaintances in some of her classes, like Tyler Cohen-Chang and his boyfriend Artie who was not in a wheelchair. It terrified Rachel for a minute. She wanted nothing more than to embrace these people who were her friends in a previous life but only the exact opposite of who they were. She felt the urge to vomit and cry uncontrollably several times throughout the day but in the end, she knew she had to stay strong.

"Berry, thanks for your help in Biology. If you need anything, I'll be happy to lend a hand in any way or if you need a detailed tour of the school, I'm your girl. See you at lunch! You can sit with Jenna Puckerman and Marley, her girlfriend, and I." Devin Karofsky told her, placing her perfectly manicured hand on Rachel's shoulder. Devin was a stunning young athletic girl who claimed her prowess as a lacrosse player. Unlike Dave who had bombarded Rachel and the former gleeks with Big Quench slushies, his female counterpart was gentle and approachable. She was very flirtatious as well it seemed, or maybe that was just Rachel overcompensating her kindness. "Yeah, thank you for everything you've done for me, I really appreciate it. See you later, Karofsky." She replied playfully, blushing when Devin grinned and reluctantly walked away from the younger girl. Rachel shook off the fluttering of the butterflies in her stomach, she couldn't believe that it was so much easier making friends in this universe. For once, she wasn't being bullied and it felt nice to be normal. The excitement she felt from looking forward to her lunch date immediately plummeted when she heard a commotion in the hallway.

She craned her neck to see what was happening and almost immediately, her heart dropped at the sight. The tall brunette she had seen earlier was tormenting Finn once more with the same familiar group of friends. They had him cornered against the lockers as the exotic beauty with the Mohawk poured grape flavored slush down his shirt after he had just cleaned up earlier. "Norah Puckerman you fabulous bitch, let me have a go at him. I don't believe the breeder's learned his lesson yet." The head of the group drawled, playing with her curls before she took the big quench cup from Norah's hands. As the brunette prepared to pour the slushie down Finn's jeans, Rachel saw red and hurried over to his side. Nobody would have ever defended Rachel in her past life but she wasn't about to let anyone suffer the way she had to for years. When the tallest girl of the group looped her finger around one of Finn's belt loops, Rachel charged at the girl. "Hey, hey! Leave him alone, what did he ever do to offend you!" She cried out angrily, pushing Finn behind her as she slapped the cup away from the cruel girl's hand. She was breathing hard, sending a death glare at the group of friends who had been standing by and laughing at Finn.

Rachel realized who they all were as she heard their names a few times from typical gossipers. They all held the same look they once possessed in her other life but they were still the same. It made her feel uneasy but they were bullying Finn and that was not okay.

Brent S. Pierce was on the hockey team while his boyfriend, Santiago Lopez, played football for McKinley. Norah Puckerman and Quinton Fabray were hooligans who seemed out of place in but they were clearly accepted into the group. Now all Rachel had to do was figure out who the girl standing before her was.

"What the actual cum guzzling fuck? Listen girl, who the hell do you think are? This is Donna Karan! Stick your –"The brunette had cut herself off while she had been trying to wipe some of grape slushy off of her expensive clothes. When she looked up to stare heatedly into Rachel's eyes, something clicked within the petite singer as she met her intense gaze. Those familiar piercing blue eyes softened, the brunette giving Rachel a once over and Rachel doing the same as if they were sizing each other up. The corners of the other girl's lips created such a dazzling effect when she smiled, her strong jaw and prominent features reminding her so much of…Kurt! Rachel stood protectively in front of Finn with her arms stretched out on either side, but she wasn't quite as angry as she should have been. "Leave him alone. You have a problem with him, you have a problem with me." Rachel said quietly, desperately trying to resist the urge to cry. She couldn't believe that this was who Kurt had become. It couldn't be him, she just had to be mistaken.

The taller brunette looked concerned for a minute, glancing back at her friends before turning her attention back to Rachel. "You must be new around here otherwise I would have recognized that outfit before. Listen, this isn't your problem, this is between myself and the filthy breeder you're protecting. You're lucky to be receiving this warning because if that outfit wasn't hot and you totally weren't rocking it, you'd suffer some pretty ugly consequences. I'm going to ask you politely to back off just this once because there's no real reason for you to act like a total martyr on his behalf." The brunette told Rachel firmly, stepping even closer to the smaller girl.

Rachel looked up and tried to ignore the voices inside of her head screaming that this was Kurt who was telling her off. She couldn't help but piece together their faces as they were far too similar. The older girl seemed as if she was athletic as well, showing off excellent muscular arms just as Kurt had when he wore sleeveless tees on his off days. It would completely tear her apart if this was who Kurt had become in this bizarre, twisted universe. _'It can't be him, it can't be him. Please don't let this be him!_' She thought frantically to herself. "I hate to disappoint you but Finn Hudson is a human being and for you to dehumanize him in front of my peers is completely unacceptable. He's been kind to me while you and your friends have been doing nothing but terrorizing him. If you so choose to show me the same treatment, it'll only make me that much more determined to stop you because I can assure you I've been through what he's gone through if not worse. Go ahead and do your worst." Rachel replied, ignoring Finn's whispered words of "It's okay, I can put it up with it. Don't do this to yourself."

"Hummel! Care to explain why you're harassing Rachel Berry when she just barely transferred to this school? If you're sexually frustrated, there's no real reason for you to be taking it out on someone who's too good for you." Devin roared as she rallied up the lacrosse team to support Rachel's noble cause. Devin glared at Kristine for what felt like a lifetime until the brunette finally stepped down. The singer had to bite her tongue, to keep from crying out after discovering that this was her best friend. Rachel looked up at her new friend with newfound appreciation and Devin offered her a small smile before turning her attention back to Kristine.

"Fuck, you don't have to shout, I'm standing right here you know. Fine, fine, whatever. I'll spare the newbie for now but Hudson is on my shit list. The filthy hetero was staring at my tits and it made me uncomfortable. I'm not saying I overreacted but I have a temper. You best keep your friend in check, whatever your name is." Kristine said pointedly at Rachel before she disappeared into the crowd along with her friends. Norah Puckerman grinned at the petite singer before she leaned over and whispered, "That skirt is totes crunchy toast." Rachel shivered at the whispered words, watching as the girl rushed over to catch up with her friends.

Devin and her friends turned to face Finn and Rachel, a moment of silence creeping up the entire hallway before cheers erupted around them. "Damn Berry, that was ballsy. I turn my back for one minute and you're already fucking shit up for the Head Asshole in Charge. I taught you well." She said, patting Rachel on the back affectionately but Rachel paid no mind to Devin. She wanted to make sure Finn was okay first.

"Will you be okay? I'm so sorry you had to have that happen to you."

"I uh…yeah, I'll be okay. Don't worry about it. I have an emergency outfit in my locker. Nobody's ever done that for me. Thank you." He quietly said, smiling before he grabbed his book bag and emptied out the rest of the contents in his locker. A dark skinned young girl made an appearance alongside of Finn while a pretty brunette stood beside him on the opposite side. "Dev, we'll help him clean up. Let's chill at the bleachers for lunch today." With that said, both girls escorted a confused but totally willing Finn Hudson into the nearest restroom.

"I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't showed up. I can't believe things like that happen around here. Does it occur often?" Rachel asked as she walked besides Devin towards the cafeteria after the crowd had dispersed. The lacrosse player nodded sadly, hooking her arm through Rachel's protectively in case those d-bags decided to show up again. "Unfortunately, but since you're new here, you're totally excused for not knowing what kind of shit's been going down since they crowned Kristine Hummel as the Head Cheerio. It's kind of a long story if you don't mind hearing it."

As hard as it was for Rachel to hear what kind of monster Kurt has become since becoming the royal queen of McKinley, she swallowed her pride and nodded in Devin's direction. She was afraid if she spoke again, she'd end up a hysterical crying mess. She needed to know everything that there was to know about this place before she could figure out how to go back to where belonged. "Tell me everything." She breathed.

* * *

All mistakes are my own as this fic is unbeta'd.


	3. Wake Me Up Before it All Ends

**Wake Me Up Before it All Ends**

_**Notes**__: Thank you all for the continued support, I have two stories to work on so updates will occur between both randomly when I have free time to spare. I'm trying to get back into this as I strive to become a better writer. Please continue to leave feedback of any kind! (:_

Rachel was exhausted. She'd been researching online all week about what kind of universe she was now living in and how it all came to be. The enormous amount of results that came up nearly overwhelmed her to the point of wanting to give up but she had to keep fighting for the truth. The important questions that needed immediate answers weren't so easy to come across, of course, but she was making progress. Why had she come here and what was the purpose of this? Did she experience time travel or did this alternate universe come to be due to a life changing decision she had made that was not supposed to occur? All these strange questions she found herself asking were making her head spin but she was determined to find answers through any and all available resources. For now, she would take a break from her personal quest as she seemed to be reliving her high school days and that didn't come without homework. It was stressful, really, seeing her friends in a vastly different perspective but it was also refreshing as they weren't as kind to her in the previous life she left behind. Rachel wasn't quite sure what she preferred but something still felt off and she needed to figure out what that was before she began preferring which life seemed more enjoyable.

She wasn't saying that this life came without its flaws as it did come with many; this universe, however, shaped her friends' lives differently in many ways and for some the changes were positive while there were others who were suffering just the same if not worse. Her life certainly transformed in ways that she couldn't imagine. She was being given a second chance at life while juggling the responsibilities of handling this bizarre situation(it wasn't all that bad, just difficult to adjust to right away). Her mothers were very nurturing and supportive, and they actually spent time with her instead of talking with her from a distance or occasionally making an appearance whenever it was convenient for them. It was actually nice having parents who cared about her all the time. Emma Pillsbury was a guidance counselor at Dalton Academy, and while she still possessed some of her quirky traits from her previous life, she wasn't as inhibited as she was when she was with Will Schuester. Shelby was an obstacle Rachel couldn't quite overcome just yet and as much as she wanted to get away from the mother who abandoned her from before, Shelby forced herself upon Rachel as if she was smothering her, like she couldn't get enough of her own daughter. All week, Shelby would come home from work(she happened to be a personal fitness instructor) and the first thing she would do was greet both Emma and Rachel at the door before she set out to assist the sophomore with her homework.

Rachel politely declined on every occasion but she always made sure to ask about her biological mother's day so she wouldn't seem completely disrespectful. Their relationship hadn't been whole before and Rachel would be lying if she said she wasn't being vindictive in order to show Shelby what it was like to be unwanted. No matter what she said or did to push the older woman away, however, Shelby would simply sigh and run her fingers through Rachel's hair affectionately. She was trying to be a good mother and all Rachel was doing was being an ungrateful daughter due to the woman's past mistakes in the other universe. Guilt flooded Rachel at that very moment as she ceased typing up the report she had written before for her English Honors class. She would always be hurt from Shelby's rejection in the past but that was just it, it was in the past and this was now. This was her chance to make things work, especially for Shelby's sake. Rachel got up from the chair and crept downstairs to where Emma and Shelby were cuddling on the couch watching a hit television show about a lesbian anthropologist who's secretly in love with her best friend she suspects to be straight. Emma looked up and offered the smaller girl a welcoming smile. "My little gold star, are you all finished with your homework?" The red headed woman offered to make room on the couch but Rachel only shook her head.

"No, I'm nearly finished though. I-I just had a question and it's going to be weird but it's part of another assignment I've been working on at school. When you and mom decided to have me, what was the process like?" The singer asked nervously, fingers playing with the knotted strings on her shorts. She was honestly curious as to how this whole universe worked since heterosexuality was deemed unnatural. She wants to know what it takes to raise a family in a dominant homosexual society. Shelby raised an eyebrow, pausing her recorded show on the DVR before turning her attention back to her daughter. She grinned wickedly and clasped her hands together. "This doesn't sound like any ordinary project at school, sweetheart. Did some enchanting young woman already sweep you off your feet? It sounds like she's not wasting any time!" She teased, Emma playfully smacking her in the arm before they turned to face their embarrassed daughter. Maybe it wasn't the right time to ask such silly questions when Google was her best friend. She's not entirely sure she wants to have the 'Birds and the Bees' talk with them either when she preferred the opposite gender, or did she? She wasn't entirely sure, she had been too caught up with the drama with everything else that she hadn't evaluated what she was attracted to.

Wait, that didn't make any sense. Rachel was _straight_, there was absolutely no way she could have changed her sexual identity overnight. Why was this even brought up in the first place? She was straight, that was something she was most certain of.

"No, no, there hasn't been a girl- er, anyone- that's interested me yet. That's something you don't need to worry yourselves with. I just wanted an in depth report about reproduction and how society goes about it through personal experience." Rachel lied, desperately trying not to buckle under pressure. If they were to find out about her heterosexuality, she briefly wonders if they would disown her given Shelby's distaste for heterosexuality. She swallows hard at the idea; she had no where to go if they found out about it. Emma reached over and pulled Rachel onto the couch beside her, Shelby readjusting her position so she could lay her head down on the singer's lap. "Well, it certainly wasn't easy deciding which gay couple would be lucky enough to contribute to our growing family." Emma began, detailing their early life as a young eager couple that married right after high school. It turned out it wasn't as complicated as Rachel originally thought. There were couples who agreed to a temporary coupling with the opposite sex in order for females to receive the sperm the "unnatural but quickest" way and there were surrogates who did not wish to have children of their own but choose to serve their community through eventual adoption after the birth of their child. So not much has changed really, but apparently the most unpleasant option was intercourse with the opposite sex. Rachel had to chuckle at that. It was a paid process for all involved and friendships were made through such acts of intimacy so it wasn't a complete nightmare. Hiram and Leroy Berry were her donors and Shelby had respected them so much that she had given Rachel their surname since they had been that close to them at one point in their lives.

All that changed, however, when Hiram divorced Leroy and there had been a huge custody battle over Rachel but in the end, Emma and Shelby won the case and both men had eventually gone their separate ways and were never to be heard from again. Rachel fought the urge to cry when she heard the story, her fathers had been involved in her life at one point but they chose to cower away from her, they didn't even bother fighting for her hard enough and that's what killed the younger girl. Shelby gazed into Rachel's eyes and could sense sadness in them. She was sad too over what happened years ago since they were such a warm and loving family and it all nearly fell apart in the blink of an eye. "Honey, don't you worry about what happened such a long time ago. You're here with us now and we love you, we'll never reject or hurt you and we'll make sure that the woman you marry will never ever put you through that, okay? You better finish that assignment and head to bed, it's getting late." Shelby whispered, kissing Rachel on the forehead. Emma embraced Rachel for what would have been an inappropriate amount of time in a previous life but right now Rachel was too tired to care as it was oddly comforting. She had a lot to process, this life was so fascinating and tragic in many different ways. While she could get used to her home life, it was school she had yet to get used to.

* * *

Rachel had just gotten out of her second period class flipping through a pamphlet listing a number of after school activities, sports and clubs but it seemed as if a glee club hadn't been established. Her heart sunk at the idea since she'd been looking for an outlet, she even tried the auditorium and what had been the choir room to vent out her frustrations but to no avail. She stood by her locker silently as she tried to think of who she could go to in order to establish New Directions once more and bring back its former glory. Her thoughts were quickly interrupted when she felt a familiar presence hovering over her. She smiled and looked up to find Finn awkwardly standing behind her with that familiar dopey grin on his face. "Hey. I don't have a lot of time before they see me here but I thought I'd say hi before you left to class." Finn said, lowering his head and began to walk away in the opposite direction until he felt Rachel's tiny hand grasping around his enormous ones. Rachel tilted her head in confusion. "Where are you going? You're my friend, you have every right to be wherever your heart desires to be. You have nothing to fear Finn. Anyway, you owe me a hug for trying to ditch me you jerk." Rachel teased, enjoying the sound of Finn's awkward laughter when she wrapped her arms around his waist. He hesitated in fear of his classmates' reactions but he went for it and returned the hug despite how brief it was.

When they pulled apart, Finn opened his mouth to speak again but they were interrupted. Devin Karofsky and her lacrosse buddies, Jenna Puckerman and Samantha Evans, had walked up to them casually. Purposely pushing the tallest boy in school aside by stepping in front of him so she could personally invade Rachel's space, Devin playfully glared at the anxious boy as if she were Rachel's jealous lover. A moment of awkward silence swept over them before Devin, Jenna, and Samantha burst out laughing. The girls' lacrosse captain draped her arm over Finn's broad shoulders and brought him down to her level, squeezing him a little. "Hudson, my main man, I appreciate you keeping my girl company and my spot totally warm for me. Have I ever told you lately that you're my absolute favorite?" She asked as she placed a gentle kiss on his nose. Finn couldn't speak, it was either out of embarrassment or it was because he couldn't breathe. Rachel was going to bet her entire life on the latter. "D-Devin, I can't b-breathe. Squeezing…too…hard." He gasped out, Devin immediately releasing him upon realizing what she had been doing unintentionally. As he tried to regain his breath, he smiled to show his understanding and patience. Jenna smacked Finn's back a few times, despite his cries of, "I'm not choking! There's no need for you to do that!"

"You guys are absolutely ridiculous. Listen, I was wondering if any of you know whether or not there's ever been a glee club at McKinley before? I was thinking of starting it up but to be honest I'm not sure if anyone besides myself would be interested in glee." Rachel observed their facial expressions with the hopes that none of their reactions would be completely negative. Samantha, who had been amusing herself by touching the tip of her nose with her tongue, looked up in surprise at the question. "You mean like a choir group where you get together and sing convenient songs that somehow apply to your never ending sexual frustration or irrelevant songs that convey a message that somehow reflects a situation you're going through? No, we haven't had anything like that since we were freshmen. It was popular for awhile 'til they shut it down after an embarrassing loss at freakin' sectionals. I was there!" Sam exclaimed, shaking her head at the memory. Rachel was stunned; the glee club had made it to sectionals and they lost? Even though she felt bad for her friend, Devin smirked and told the rest of the story.

"Before Kristine Hummel became the head Cheerio, the girl was a huge gleek. As much as I hate the bitch, she was really good and for once an activity that wasn't related to sports was making its way to the top here at McKinley. Sam and Kristine were really good friends at the time so naturally they were co-captains. When sectionals came, the group numbers were absolutely phenomenal but when Kristine's solo for Defying Gravity came about, it didn't work and she ended up blowing the highest note. Everyone teased her mercilessly for it and she vowed to never sing again. So one day, she tries out for cheerleading to fuel her need to perform and what do you know, she ends up becoming the captain of the Cheerios and an obnoxious bitch to instill fear in everyone."

"The first thing Sue told her to do was to exact revenge on the glee club and the girl single handedly destroyed it for what it was and what it meant to everyone else who was apart of it. It totally sucked, I miss being apart of it." Sam added regretfully. Rachel couldn't believe what she was hearing. Kristine had become so insecure after making a mistake everyone in the world is capable of making that she took it out on something that was meant to bring people joy. It was tragic, really, but nevertheless Rachel wasn't about to relive her high school days without reviving the one thing that made her happy. She never backed down from a challenge. Devin had been observing Rachel thoughtfully and wondered what the other girl was thinking about. "Don't tell me you're into that, Berry. You don't seem like the type of girl who dramatically sings about her feelings and expects everyone to respect that; you would lose so many brownie points!" Devin whined, which only provoked Rachel to make the glee club a priority again. New Directions was going to be revived it would rightfully earn its place in McKinley.

Rachel winked at the lacrosse player and lightly pinched the taller girl's cheek. "You will never claim to know me as well as you think you do until you've heard me sing. I, Rachel Barbra Berry, am destined for Broadway musicals, movies, television shows and music television. I'm the best at what I do and I can guarantee you that no one else can do what I can do. I'm going to reestablish the glee club and I'm going to prove to you how good I am." The petite singer stated with boldness Devin admittedly found attractive.

"Rachel, you're officially one of the weirdest girls I know. By weird, I mean refreshing and cool weird. It's not often you hear a lot of girls talk about their passions like that these days, I can dig it." Finn said shyly, trying to cover up his blush. Rachel smirked. She couldn't wait until she could show her friends what she was made of, but most importantly what the New Directions 2.0 was capable of. Samantha looked excited at the prospect while Devin still carried a doubtful look that continued to inspire Rachel. "If you're such a good singer, Berry, why don't you sing something random right now in the middle of this hallway and we'll see if you're good enough to man the Titanic." She dared, leaning over closely to Rachel. The brunette rolled her eyes and stepped forward until their noses barely touched. "Karofsky, this isn't some high school musical where it's socially acceptable to randomly burst out in song while expecting the people around you to join you. Meet me by the bleachers after school and I'll show you who I really am." Jenna and Samantha wolf whistled at Rachel's retort and looked up at Devin in order to observe her reaction. The lacrosse captain licked her lips and nodded as she continued to stare down at Rachel.

"I really like the sound of that. Okay, deal. If we deem you worthy enough, then we'll help you start up a brand new glee club and we'll gather supporters for you and whatnot. If you fail to please, then I dare you to disguise as a football player and apply Icy Hot on all the dirty used jock straps. I want to see Santiago Lopez squeal like a bitch." Devin replied with an evil smile plastered on her face. Rachel laughed as she folded her arms across her chest. "Please, it looks like you'll be doing my bidding for awhile. I can promise you I won't lose." The bell had finally rung and the crowd of students that surrounded the group threatened to split them apart. When the girls had said their goodbyes to one another including Finn, they all turned and headed straight to their third period class. Rachel was off this period and decided to use this time alone to research what questions she had for what she's been going through in the library. Unfortunately, she wasn't completely alone in the hallway that led straight to the library's main floor. She stopped about fifty feet away from the group of fiends that had been terrorizing Finn since her first day back at McKinley.

They noticed her right away and it was incredibly unnerving when she felt Kurt- no, Kristine's- eyes on her. Rachel wasn't about to let them ruin her day, all she would have to do is completely ignore them and they would leave her alone. It wasn't like she directly offended them in any way; she had merely demonstrated a peaceful protest against their bullying and that was it. The singer straightened up and continued on her way towards the library, walking briskly with her head held up high. Just as soon as she'd gotten close enough to their group, Kristine made her move and stepped in front of Rachel, Santiago and Brent on either side of her to prevent Rachel from visiting the library. Norah and Quinton casually leaned up against the lockers as they observed the scene before them. Norah had obviously been ogling her from across the hallway and winked at the younger girl. Rachel sighed impatiently. She really didn't feel like taking the long route to get to the library but if she had to, she would. "Excuse me, but there's some really important research I need to be doing right now." She told them coldly, placing her hand on her hip to fully convey her annoyance. Kristine seemed to be in deep thought as her eyes ran up and down Rachel's body, making silent observations that made Rachel feel self conscious.

"What's with the animal sweaters and knee high socks, short stuff?" The head Cheerio finally asked, flipping her hair before gazing directly into Rachel's eyes. Brent snickered. Santiago bit his lip and looked away, shaking his head in disapproval just as Rachel expected_ Santana's_ counterpart would. Rachel ran her hand through her own hair before turning the lazy glare into a much more heated stare. "As if my personal fashion statements are of any of your concern. We may have gotten off on the wrong foot the other day but there is no need to treat people the way you do. Now would you please excuse me, I have some very important research to do." She replied tersely, attempting to walk past them until both Santiago and Kristine made an effort to completely deny Rachel entrance into the school library.

"When fashion statements are concerned, I am the leading expert on the latest trends and couture. It is my duty as a fashionable citizen to prevent bad fashion from happening to my fellow classmates. Care to remind me what your name is again?" Kristine asked, her intense blue eyes piercing straight into Rachel's dark brown orbs. This was not the kind of encounter Rachel had been expecting today and she was not going to have it. The teasing tone in Kristine's voice was absolutely infuriating. She was purposefully trying to get under the younger girl's skin and it was working.

"Rachel Berry. Now if you'll excuse me, I believe you've squandered enough of my precious time and I'll be going the other way." The brunette replied turning on her heel to take the much dreaded long route. That didn't stop Kristine and her friends from harassing the smaller girl. She heard footsteps coming from behind her and she found herself desperately trying to regain control of her emotions as they offered unwanted advice.

"Animal sweaters are cute on toddlers, Rachel Berry. You sure do meet the height requirements for a toddler but you certainly exceed the age limitations. What's your excuse for dressing that way?" Kristine.

"Those shoes don't go with those socks, honey." Brent.

"I can see your ovaries with that skirt. I feel like a pedophile just looking at you." Norah Puckerman.

Rachel must have been distracted because as soon as those words left Norah's lips, she found herself falling over her own feet. She gasped as she fell to an awkward position on the slippery floor, her butt sticking out and skirt rising up by a lot much to Rachel's dismay. Heat rushed straight to Rachel's cheeks as she heard a wolf whistle and disrespectful laughter so she immediately stood up and adjusted herself as quickly as she could before turning to glare at the group. "I don't understand what your problem is but you need to get over it and grow the hell up. What you're doing for personal entertainment isn't right!" She screeched, only to invoke more laughter from the group. Rolling her eyes for what felt like the millionth time that day, she ended up avoiding the library altogether and headed straight for the bleachers for what she didn't know. All she knew was that she needed privacy so she could clear her head and cry. Kristine Hummel was a _bitch_.

When Rachel was still within ear shot, Kristine yelled out as loud as she possibly could, "What you lack in fashion sense you make up for with that ass!" The Cheerio smirked when she saw that the shorter girl had turned the corner with her hands covering her face in embarrassment. Mission accomplished.


	4. Hello, Cold World

**Hello, Cold World**

**Notes: **All the continued support inspires me to write this story out much faster and I really appreciate all the feedback you guys have been leaving me! Please continue to read and review, constructive criticism is welcome as well! P.S. don't mind the slight Berryofsky, I'm kind of a closeted fan but it's all about Hummelberry here. (:

"_It's too much pain, it's too much freedom, what should I do with this?  
It's not the way you plan it, it's how you make it happen._

_Yeah, it's how you make it happen." – Paramore_

It was the end of a very long school day and Rachel was looking forward to the weekend. After her humiliating encounter with Kristine earlier that morning, she decided that it was definitely time for her to reclaim the choir room so she could vent out her emotions the best (and often only) way she knew how. She certainly wasn't going to allow Kristine to get under her skin or she'd let her win which would be completely unacceptable. So Rachel sucked it up and joined her new friends at her usual table in the cafeteria, and she somehow forgot about the entire situation completely. It was strange to feel so at ease at school when in her previous life, she dreaded coming here every morning. That didn't mean she missed the insults that had been consistently thrown her way nearly her entire life or the slushy attacks; it was just different not having to deal with the anxiety that came with coming to school. It was very nice and Rachel felt that she could get used to this alternate lifestyle, especially when she made friends who were genuinely interested in her prior to establishing the glee club. There were no ulterior motives or bizarre love triangles that seemed to senselessly pop out of nowhere, and rivalries were out of the equation (for now). For the first time ever since she had woken up in this strange new world, she was happy and she would be damned if she let anyone take that away from her. It wasn't going to stop her from trying to find a way back because she absolutely had to get back to where she was since she was a NYADA student; she was just going to take advantage of being able to temporarily enjoy her new lease on life. This was her chance to change things around and hopefully make things right.

The time had come where everybody was going to meet by the bleachers to hang out for a minute before Rachel could finally prove to Devin that she could sing. All day, Devin had been goading her about the talent she claimed to possess and Rachel wanted nothing more than to wipe that smug look off her face. Thankfully, there wasn't going to be football practice that afternoon and the chances of the Cheerios harassing their little group were pretty slim as Sue detested confrontation of any kind while her cheerleaders were practicing on the field. The woman hated distractions and if her students participated in any kind of social interaction with outsiders when they were supposed to be working, they would face the immediate threat of losing status as a WHMS Cheerio. Rachel and Finn were the last ones to catch up with their group as Finn insisted on waiting until the parking lot was cleared out so he could make his way towards the field unscathed. It was tragic that he planned things out this way and Rachel was determined to change all that despite their rocky relationship from her previous life; she just knew he deserved better than this. When Finn helped Rachel climb the bleachers, the singer found herself being welcomed with an interesting sight. Marley was sitting across Jenna's lap as the two were engaged in a very heated make out session while Samantha was entertaining Devin with impressive Sarah Silverman impressions.

Rachel jumped when she heard a loud crash behind her and when she turned around, she couldn't help but chuckle at the sight of Finn struggling to pick himself up. "Sorry, I suck at walking sometimes. It can be very challenging for us tall folk." He joked, sounding a bit more confident this time than he has before. Rachel and Finn finished making their way towards the group, Samantha immediately jumping onto Finn's back. He was taken aback when the smaller girl began climbing him until she could stand on his shoulders but he went with the flow and steadied the hyperactive junior. When she was comfortably perched on Finn, she puffed out her chest and slapped her chest wildly. "Hulk smash, mothafuckas! Ow, my titties. Arrgh!" She roared playfully before launching herself off of Finn. She landed perfectly but when she straightened herself out, Samantha lost her balance and fell on Marley and Jenna. The girls laughed hard at Sam's wild antics before the couple eventually pushed her off of their laps. "Dude, that was sick. You're freakishly tall, dude bro. I love it, I love it, I love it! You should play basketball; you'd so be the white Shaquille O'Neal." Sam told Finn before her attention turned to the rest of the group once more. Finn chuckled, "Okay, I think someone accidentally put red bull in their coffee maker instead of water this morning." Sam's eyes widened and she turned to look at him with excitement clearly written on her face.

"Great idea, Chuckie Finnster! Could you imagine how epic that would be? I would probably be able to see sound. Fuck, I'm totally adding that to my bucket list!" Rachel couldn't help but laugh. Finn was slowly making progress when it came to handling his social anxiety and the singer was so proud of him for allowing himself to finally adjust to the positive changes in his life. Devin smirked and got up from where she had been sitting and leaned against the railing so she could look up at Rachel. Jenna and Marley followed suit as they had nearly forgotten about the purpose for being here. Finn offered the petite brunette a comforting smile before he joined the rest of the girls, Samantha climbing the railing so she could invite herself to sit on his broad shoulders again. "Alright, enough with the shenanigans you guys. Berry thinks she can just transfer to this school and rebuild our shitty glee club from the ground up within her first week. First, she's gotta prove herself. This isn't American Idol where you'll basically be judged based on how hot you are rather than your talent. Of course it doesn't hurt that you're easy on the eyes but you know…shit, I'm rambling again, somebody stop me so she can get on with it." Devin spouted out nervously as she attempted to even out her breathing. Rachel blushed but she carried on with herself as she normally would when she prepared for a performance.

She climbed up a few more steps on the bleachers until she found a particular spot she felt comfortable with and found herself gazing at Devin for a brief moment. She wished she could be showcasing her talent in the choir room or the auditorium so they could enjoy the full effects of her powerful voice but this would have to do. No matter where she was, Rachel knew she was the best at what she did. The group looked over at Rachel with curiosity in their eyes, each of them secretly wondering if she was simply pulling their leg or if she could actually prove to them she was good. Rachel took a few deep breaths before she began singing her rendition of '_Taking Chances'_ by Celine Dion. As much as she wanted to perform different songs from her previous life, she had to be extremely careful with that since she'd risk exposing songs that didn't belong in this time just yet. In fact, since she was technically reliving her life all over again, she was going to perform every song she had sung her sophomore year even better and a little bit differently this time around. This song also happened to be very relevant to what she had been experiencing ever since she arrived. If she could change things around for the better than by God she was going to do it. It wasn't everyday that you could be given second chances like these and Rachel was going to make the best of this situation.

Rachel continued singing the song verse by verse until she reached the chorus when she reluctantly opened her eyes to catch a glimpse of her friends' facial reactions. She was suddenly nervous. What if she wasn't good enough? What if in this twisted universe she wasn't as good as she was in her previous life? No, she just had to pull through no matter the cost. Self doubt was absolutely ridiculous; she now owed it to herself to prove that she was better than ever before.

_What do you say to taking chances,  
What do you say to jumping off the edge?  
Never knowing if there's solid ground below  
Or hand to hold, or hell to pay,  
What do you say,  
What do you say?_

As she crooned the final lyrics of the song, she found herself staring intently into Devin's distractingly beautiful gray eyes. Her heart fluttered at the sight. Not only did Devin look at her as if she were the most beautiful, talented woman in the world, the rest of the group seemed to be thoroughly enjoying her performance. She felt more powerful than Beyonce at that very moment watching Marley and Samantha quietly singing along with her, Finn looking at her with pure wonder in his eyes and Jenna teasingly nudging Devin out of her trance. When she reached the end of the song, Rachel crossed her arms with a cocky expression on her face, knowing fully well that not only had she impressed her friends but she revived the idea of the glee club and the misfits she once knew and loved would eventually come together to reunite as a family. That was the point of all this; she just needed to show them that there was hope for kids like them and that there would always be a place for them to feel appreciated and loved.

"God that was…that was just wow, I'm nearly speechless. I uh you know, I thought you were shitting me when you said you could sing. Not a lot of people can sing and to be honest I never cared about our little glee club that couldn't but you blew me away." Devin managed to stutter out, slowly applauding the younger girl's performance. Samantha rolled her eyes but applauded Rachel as well. "It's been awhile since we had anyone as good as you. I loved being apart of glee when we had someone who cared about us but now we don't have any teachers who willingly support it or a captain to keep us in line. Rachel, if there's any way you could start up glee again, count me in. I love singing and shit." She said, causing the shorter girl to giggle at the comment. Sam surprised the singer when the lacrosse player walked up to her and suddenly swept her off her feet by carrying her bridal style. "Hail to the queen, baby. Groovy!" She shouted. Sam spun them around which provoked Rachel to laugh and shout at the dorky athlete. What a perfect way to end the day. The group seemed to be enjoying themselves, not wanting the day to end as they were having quite a bit of fun.

* * *

Kristine Hummel had caught up with her friends after the Cheerios used up the former choir room for practice. She was mildly annoyed with the performance of her teammates but she didn't have the energy to follow up with each individual after practice ended. She sighed, grateful that today had ended. She was glad that she had earned the extra day off from the Lima Bean as well since being captain of the squad ate up a lot of her energy. She wasn't sure how long she could keep up with it anymore but she knew it was important to be self sufficient since her home life was slowly becoming intolerable. The less time she spent at home, the better. When Kristine caught Brent and Santiago being overly affectionate with one another by her locker, she slammed her fist against the metal lockers beside her own and it made the boys jump. She was impatient and all she wanted to do was go home, get dressed, and head over to the drive-in to watch Jennifer's Body with her friends. "Keep it behind closed doors or do something about that painfully obvious boner, Lopez! You really need to look into that premature ejaculation problem of yours." Kristine teased as she enjoyed the extremely embarrassed look on Santiago's face. Brent whispered soothing words into his boyfriend's ear before he cast Kristine a glare. "He can't help it if he's sensitive, I think it's hot." The Cheerio rubbed her temples before she chose her next words carefully. "Of course you do, Brent. What a supportive boyfriend you must be to tolerate a two minute wonder at best before supplying your own homo explosion."

Santiago was offended and immediately shoved Kristine only to be shoved against the lockers behind him. "Your obvious sexual frustration is showing, Hummel. Just because you're still a virgin doesn't mean you're allowed to pick on me and besides, I give Brent a helping hand in obtaining an orgasm, something you'll never achieve. Who'd want to sleep with a bitch like you?" The irritated jock spat out as he stood nose to nose with Kristine. Quinton and Norah noticed the tension from afar and decided to break it up as soon as possible. "My fellow fags and dykes, calm your tits! There's no need for animosity between us, that's what the breeders want. In fact, speaking of breeders, I saw Hudson by the bleachers. Why don't we take it out on the enemy instead of on each other?" Quinton quietly suggested before he was immediately pushed aside by Kristine, who decided to stalk Finn as soon as she found out where he was hiding. The little vendetta between them would never end, she was sure of it because she held so much hatred towards him for what he did to her family all those years ago. She would never forgive him for what he'd done and she just remembered now that she still owed him for what he did. He would continue paying for it until they graduated high school. She was just so _angry_…

When Kristine and company arrived, they immediately hid behind the nearest corner as they hadn't been expecting Finn to be surrounded by _friends._ The Cheerio turned to her friends and shushed them before she quietly led them underneath the bleachers. She wasn't sure what they were doing here but she was curious as to why this particular group of geeks and freaks would befriend that Rachel Berry girl and why the hell were they so accepting of Frankenteen? When Kristine chose a suitable spot underneath the bleachers, she looked up only to be met with the sight of white panties and familiar argyle knee high socks. She gulped a little too loudly, her mouth immediately drying up after she attempted to lick her lips to provide some sort of relief. Norah noticed Kristine's distracted look and she smirked when she stood beside the slightly shorter brunette to observe what she had been staring at. "Damn, Krissy. I didn't realize that underneath the bitch there's a woman yearning to fuck. Deny it all you want but I think you've got some kinky fetishes." The juvenile delinquent joked as she too appreciated the sight above her. Kristine blushed and elbowed her friend hard in the ribs. "Shut it, Puckerman. Keep your voice down. I like what I like okay but that doesn't mean I'm into t-that. She just caught me off guard." She whispered before she knelt down, resisting the urge to look up again but it proved to be difficult. Norah continued ogling the new girl's ass from underneath the bleachers.

They eavesdropped on the strange conversations taking place and Kristine rolled her eyes at some of the lame jokes Finn awkwardly mumbled. It was pathetic, really, but she was bored and this seemed like a good idea for the time being until they could think of better things to do. Besides, the less time she spent home, the better. It wasn't until Devin the almighty Karofsky brought up glee and how Rachel had to prove herself if the club was to be rebuilt from the ashes that Kristine showed genuine interest. It stung when she heard Devin described the former glee club as shitty but she had to force down the anger that threatened to overwhelm her. Outsiders didn't understand what kind of hard work had been put into Glee's former glory days and Kristine at one point attempted to lead her team to victory. Although the Cheerio understood now that they hadn't been completely ready for actual competitions at the time, she still felt great disappointment for what had occurred that fateful day at sectionals because everybody had blamed her for their loss. _Defying Gravity_ was her go to song, she was completely obsessed with Wicked and she felt confident enough as a mere freshman to take it on as a solo because each and every time she had practiced it, her performances had been flawless. For some reason, hitting that high "F" note proved to be challenging and she choked embarrassingly enough in front of her former competition. She remembers screeching that note and upon realization that she had messed up her solo, she stopped singing. Her heart dropped, her eyes widened and her throat constricted as tears welled up in her eyes.

The memory still caused her an excruciating amount of pain to this day. Kristine found it unbearable and immediately pushed those thoughts aside. A tear had fallen but she let it go, she wanted to know why the new girl was so interested in reestablishing the notorious glee club. It wasn't going to happen of course because she would do everything she possibly could to prevent that from happening. If she wasn't allowed the opportunity to compete in Nationals then neither would anyone else while she still attended William McKinley High School. Kristine had been consumed with dark thoughts until she was brought out of her reverie by the sound of an amazing voice. She looked up again with pure wonder in her eyes as she heard Rachel's version of _Taking Chances._ It reminded her of the time she had spent working her ass off in glee trying to motivate her teammates through self expression and the special assignments they had been given to demonstrate the lessons they were supposed to be learning while appreciating each other and having a good time. Kristine fondly remembers the day her teammates looked up to her with goofy smiles on their faces as they voted her to be captain of their glee club because at one point in her life, she was the best. Here she was now, however, kneeling underneath the bleachers with her misfit friends as they listened to the new girl sing her heart out to her own group of friends with the intentions of beating up Finn Hudson for something he'd been responsible for years ago. The Cheerio felt disgusted with herself. She was better than this, she was better than _Rachel Berry_ so why the hell was she letting her past get under her skin?

While she refused to admit out loud that Rachel was certainly talented enough to bring Glee back to life at McKinley, Kristine made it a personal mission to sabotage any attempts of bringing this to light. It wasn't going to happen, she brought it down the moment she choked on stage at sectionals and she would certainly have no problem doing it again on her own terms. Glee was a joke, nobody cared about it as much as Kristine had at one point and it was something nobody took seriously anymore. She was going to bring this interesting bit of news to Sue so she could devise a scheme on how to burn the idea down to the ground. Quinton and Norah had gotten up the moment they noticed Kristine quietly walking away from them while Brent and his boy toy were too caught up in each other to notice the world around them. "Wait, they want to bring that stupid little club back again? Didn't you fuck up at one of the competitions a couple years back, Kristine?" Norah asked with feigned innocence in her tone of voice. Kristine felt her stomach knot at the memory and anger quickly consumed her. "Thanks for bringing that up again, asshole. Want to talk about how that same year my dad was involved in a car accident that left him paralyzed from the waist down? Shut it, Puckerman. Let's get out of here and leave these freak shows alone." She snapped, not waiting for a response from any of her friends.

She was going to make an effort in shutting Glee down the moment it sprang up. It wasn't fair that she had missed out on several amazing opportunities because of that horrifying moment at sectionals. No one was going to experience the kind of happiness that she missed out on because that was the person she had become. Before she had walked away from the bleachers, she stopped for one moment and looked back. Rachel's laughter could be heard and Kristine couldn't help but sneer at the foolish girl. This was going to be easy. If her dreams wouldn't come true, then neither would Rachel's and nothing filled the void like completely ruining somebody else's day.


	5. Snakebite Heart and a Bubblegum Smile

**Snakebite Heart & A Bubblegum Smile**

**Notes:**_ I truly appreciate the support and the comments you're all so kind enough to leave! I'll continuously write this out with the free time I have to spare. Thank you all so much. Please continue to read and review if you're enjoying the story. Constructive criticism is always appreciated!_

Rachel shut her ipod dock off the moment she surpassed her record time on the elliptical. She had been so caught up in her routine that she didn't realize how long she'd been exercising. It wasn't off putting at all; in fact, it put her in an upbeat mood this morning. She was thrilled that she had been invited by Jenna and Marley to spend the afternoon swimming with them. It seemed as though Rachel had been invited to an exclusive pool party with every member of their group attending and it was exciting. Devin and Samantha promised Rachel that they would try and encourage some of their friends into supporting the rebirth of Glee since they had connections with people who shared her love for music and its entirety. While she was still adjusting to this new lifestyle of hers, she was sure that she could get New Directions up and running once more. This weekend, however, was supposed to be relaxing as she needed a break from the reality she had woken up to. The petite singer collected her clothing, whistling to the tune of "_I Love It_" by Icona Pop even though the single hadn't yet been released in this time and placed everything she planned on wearing that day in her bag. The first thing she needed to do before she spent the entire morning getting ready was to greet both Shelby and Emma as per the norm and slam down her protein shake.

She continued whistling, her head lowered as she walked down the stairs. "Good morning, mothers! How are we this morning?" She asked blissfully, an unusual moaning sound catching her attention. When Rachel looked up, her eyes widened in surprise and felt her jaw drop at the sight in front of her. Shelby had Emma pinned against the kitchen counter, Emma's pink robes parted open with Shelby's hand in between her legs. When both women heard their daughter's voice, they glanced up at her and froze in place. The tiny singer gasped, stuttering out her awkward response before feeing back up the stairs.

"T-that's not where you're supposed to put your fingers!"

She ran as fast as she could, ignoring her mothers as they desperately called for her attention. Rachel ran into the bathroom, slammed the door shut and leaned against the counter as she tried to regain her breath. She closed her eyes and counted backwards from one hundred; she needed to forget the images that had been burned into her brain. Catching her parents in the act was definitely one of the most traumatizing things to happen to her so far, especially since they were engaging in such an intimate act in the place where they prepare their food. Shuddering at the thought and making a note to wipe down the kitchen counters with Clorox wipes later, Rachel refused to dwell any longer on the situation and went on about her day. From the bathroom, she could Emma berating Shelby as she transcended the stairs with the intent of having the much dreaded talk with Rachel. Nope. There was absolutely no way she was ready for the talk just yet, especially since it would detail sexual intercourse with another female and Rachel definitely did not have any experience in that area. Rachel furiously brushed her teeth as she heard light knocking on the door. "Rachel, honey, I-I just want to apologize for what you just saw down there. We weren't expecting you to be up so early on a Saturday morning. When you're done, let's have the _talk_, it's about time we discuss sex since you're at that age." Emma said with concern lacing her tone of voice. The singer panicked, there was no way she could tolerate an inappropriate discussion this early in the morning when she wasn't comfortable with the idea just yet.

Spitting out her toothpaste, Rachel replied, "No, I don't think I'm ready to talk about those types of things just yet, I have more important things to focus on like school, homework, and friends. In fact, I just made plans with Jenna Puckerman and her girlfriend so we could hang out all day today. It'll have to wait." The brunette was anxious, hoping that Emma would respect her wishes and bring it up some other time. She heard her mother sigh. "Okay, well I'll let it slide this time young lady, but you'll come to realize that sooner or later this talk is going to happen. From what I've heard about this Devin Karofsky and Samantha Evans, you're already attracting sexually active young women who possibly have their sights set on you. I love you and I just want you to make the right choices." With that said, Rachel heard Emma retreat from the bathroom door and headed back downstairs. Her heart clenched and tears threatened to spill after that meaningful moment she never experienced with her fathers. She had to figure everything out on her own and experience everything the hard way. She practically raised herself but now she was apart of a family that loved her and cherished every moment they spent with her. It was lovely and Rachel couldn't help but feel a bit guilty for having to put off the talk with her mother. The singer straightened up and took a few deep breaths as she stared at her reflection in the mirror; she had a party to attend and she wasn't going to waste the day sulking about things she no longer had control over.

* * *

By the time Rachel had arrived at Jenna's home, there were already a number of cars parked outside of her lovely house. She briefly wondered if her older sister, Norah, was going to be there but she assured the other girl that her sister would be too caught up with her job to care about the shenanigans she had planned. When she left the house, she couldn't even make eye contact with Shelby who seemed to struggle to do the same when they passed each other. Emma was embarrassed but she still managed to exchange a few words about her ideas for the glee club with her daughter before she left. Rachel reveled in the fact it was going to be warm over the weekend before the scheduled storms came about next week. Hopefully the choir room wouldn't be booked so she could immediately plan out the auditions for Glee. She certainly didn't have the patience to wait until the storms passed to bring this project to light but she also figured Sue Sylvester would refuse to miss practice because of a few rain showers; she could only hope that aside from the choir room, they would have another ideal place in mind for the Cheerios to practice their routines. The singer finally decided that she would bring this up with Sam on Monday as this weekend was strictly meant for her to unwind and enjoy herself with her new friends.

Before knocking on the door, Rachel adjusted her two piece suit underneath her outfit one more time to ensure that it would be flawless when she stripped herself of her clothing. The last thing she needed right now was to humiliate herself by exposing a nipple to everyone who would be attending the party. As soon as she looked up, the door flew open and she was met with Sam in green trunks, a purple bikini top and green arm floaties. "Sup, Berry? Don't tell me you didn't bring a suit because you don't have one. Hulk thinks that's lame and Hulk will smash your clothing off and make you swim butt naked in front of everyone. Argh!" She joked as she flexed her impressive muscles in the doorway. Rachel chuckled but she lifted her blouse to expose her own bikini top and well toned abs. "Your obsession with a fictional character from a popular comic book series is quite troubling, don't you think so?" She replied, politely waiting for Sam to step aside so she could enter the premises. Sam shook her head as she led Rachel inside Jenna's humble abode. Rachel was impressed with the set up and the cleanliness of Jenna and Norah's home, taking a minute to observe their family photos. It was strange; in her previous life, Puck and Jake didn't have a father to rely on but in this life, they had two mothers and two supportive fathers who were in the picture. The singer wanted to make a comment about it but Sam wasted no time on leading the diva back to the kitchen where Jenna and Marley were waiting with a wide array of alcohol to choose from on the kitchen island.

"Don't be a player hater, Rachel! Anyway, the guest of honor has arrived ladies and lady gents. Yes, we're aware it's a little early to be busting out the liquor but we're getting everything ready before our peeps start arriving." Samantha explained, toying with Rachel's hair before her attention was enraptured by the commotion outside. The girls glanced out the window to find Finn and Devin struggling to set up the volleyball net, so much so that Finn clumsily fell into the pool in his normal clothes and Devin had burst out laughing uncontrollably. Sam pouted and ran outside to help Finn out of those wet clothes and into something more comfortable for the time being. Rachel wondered if maybe Samantha had a thing for Finn and if she did, why was it not bothering her at all? In her previous life, she had been dating Finn on and off for years until she left for NYADA, the lingering feelings between them creating tension in a room whenever they were around each other. The diva wasn't going to lie and say she wasn't interested in starting over the right way with Finn this time around but she didn't see a logical reason why she should put so much effort in reliving an entire relationship all over again. She loved him, maybe she always would but in this universe she was free to be herself without the pressures of dating and she needed the time to live her life and figure out who she was. If she wasn't happy with herself, then how could she expect to make anyone else happy?

Marley draped an arm around Rachel and shook her head at the sight of Jenna running outside to push Sam in the pool as well, only to slip in herself by complete accident through means of instant karma. "Welcome to the family. I'm not sure if you noticed but we're hopeless idiots. I can't guarantee that it's not contagious but I hope you enjoy your stay." She said, eliciting gentle laughter to escape from the smaller girl. Rachel could only imagine what kind of adventures they'd be up to in this universe and the thought thrilled her.

* * *

When a couple of hours had passed, the pool party was officially in full swing and the alcoholic drinks were being served immediately. Finn and Sam were relaxing by the pool, engaging in a heated debate over which comic book universe was more epic: DC or Marvel. Rachel did not understand a word they were saying as they argued which superhero from within each universe was better than the other. All the singer heard was complete static which was okay because Finn was getting along with someone who understood him and it was just so cute how passionate they were about this peculiar subject. She zigzagged along back and forth between the pool and the house to the balcony and hot tub as she introduced herself to a few faces she hadn't seen before. Tyler Cohen-Chang was in the Jacuzzi with Artie, exchanging a kiss before they returned their attention to the topic of the conversation and the drinks Rachel was serving them. She didn't realize when she became the server but it happened and she certainly didn't mind it. Matt Rutherford had returned and she had to contain her excitement since she had to constantly remind herself that this was a completely different world she was living in.

Devin surprised Rachel from behind and presented the girl a homemade Pina Colada. Rachel grinned and happily took the delicious drink from her hands. "Oh, thank you so much! I feel like I haven't been able to spend much time with you since I've been trying to be nice and mingle with people I don't know. Are you enjoying yourself?" She asked as she tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. Devin smirked and attempted to lean casually against the wall only to nearly fall over since she underestimated the distance between herself and the house. Rachel giggled as she reached over to prevent the lacrosse player from hurting herself. "Jesus H. Christ, my heart nearly jumped out of my chest. Thanks, Rachel. Um, yeah I'm having a good time but I was going to ask you the same thing since you haven't changed into your swimsuit yet. You know, you don't have to be shy around me –er, us I mean – we're not here to judge you." The dark haired beauty said nervously as she traced the "v" line on her lower abdomen. The singer was about to respond when she heard the patio door slam open and an obnoxious voice boom beside her. Norah Puckerman made an appearance, looking as if she had just gotten off from work since she carelessly dropped some pool equipment on the ground.

Four very familiar figures stepped outside onto the balcony with amused expressions on their faces. Rachel rolled her eyes and walked down the steps so she could be near the pool and turned around as if she were expecting Devin to follow her. Trouble was quickly brewing. Jenna cursed under her breath as she ran past the singer to confront her older sister. Norah opened her arms and pulled Jenna in for a very awkward and painfully tight bear hug. The beauty with the Mohawk wrapped her arms around the lacrosse player's neck and held her in that spot for quite some time before she decided to speak. "Jenna Bethany Puckerman, where do you think you get off throwing some kind of exclusive pool party without inviting your older sister? I had to hear it from one of my clients that something was going down today and I thought to myself _'why should you get to have all the fun when I deserve a break from all the hard work I've been doing?_' Listen up geeks and freaks; this party has officially been taken over by me and if you have a problem with me or any of my friends, then I kindly suggest you fuck off!" She shouted before she gently released her younger sister from her grip. Quinton Fabray ran down the steps and ripped off his shirt before he threw himself into the heavily occupied pool. Kristine Hummel gracefully followed Brent and Santiago to the Jacuzzi where all the frightened freshmen and sophomores jumped out to make room for the power couple and the head bitch in charge.

Norah caught sight of Rachel trying to undress by the pool and smirked. She jogged over to Kristine and whispered into her ear at what was about to happen and invited her along to do some light teasing. The Cheerio was unimpressed by Norah's antics; it was the same thing over and over again with her when she intended to flirt. She honestly hated being Puckerman's wingman since she never received any of the attention Norah promised she would be getting. Since the intended target was the new girl, Kristine shrugged her shoulders and decided that it wouldn't hurt. Besides, Kristine would be lying if she claimed she wasn't interested in seeing someone shoot Norah down for once since she too participated in teasing Rachel. She was most definitely certain that was the reason her heart started racing at the prospect of talking to the new girl again. Devin attempted to prevent the girls from harassing any of her friends but Norah easily pushed past the lacrosse player as she walked with purpose towards the singer who was blissfully unaware of what was about to happen.

"Hey dwarf, I recommend that you don't take off that hideous blouse of yours as I don't want to scare off any of my guests with the possible treasure trail that lurks underneath that argyle." Norah's voice was soft and husky, telling Rachel that the older girl was simply looking to get a rise out of her for entertainment. It was a totally lame attempt as she's been told even worse things from her peers. Rachel released her grip on her blouse and turned around to glare at both girls standing before her. "What did I do to possibly earn the honor of your presence at this very moment? I find your feeble attempts to annoy me completely detestable and pathetic so I must kindly ask you to leave me alone as I've done nothing to offend you yet again." She replied patiently through slightly gritted teeth. She couldn't enjoy one day without encountering this particular group of people; she was cursed no matter what universe she was in. Norah smirked at Rachel's confidence and Kristine covered her mouth so she could suppress her laughter. "Mmm, well aren't you a bundle of delight with that feisty attitude. I can totes respect a woman who won't put up with my shit as I am a lot to handle. The question is…could you handle me, Berry?" Norah flirted as she leaned in closer to the smaller girl. The singer was not amused. She took a step back and continued glaring at the cocky little girl standing in front of her.

"Okay first of all, you need a tic tac or you need to learn how to brush your teeth because you're certainly not going to get your point across with breath that reeks of garbage and rotten vomit. Secondly, I have standards and you don't meet them by a long shot. Finally, I'm one of a kind and there's no way in Hell that someone like you could handle me. Nice try though, it was very cute." She said as nicely as she possibly could. Kristine couldn't hold it in anymore as she saw Norah's shoulders slump when the girl checked her own breath. She doubled over in laughter, clutching onto her stomach as she couldn't possibly contain herself. Nobody had ever shot down Norah before and Rachel's comments were actually pretty funny. Norah frowned for a minute before she began chuckling at the situation she placed herself in. "Touche, Berry. That was…well, that was an eye opening experience. Geez, I hope you didn't take what I said the other day too personally. I'm an asshole, it's a reflex of mine that's been working for me for awhile now. You broke my heart Rachel and I respect that." She said sounding defeated but she managed a small smile on her face anyway. The brunette softened the expression on her face and returned the smile.

Kristine was surprised that Rachel didn't continue slinging insults at her best friend, much to her own personal disappointment but she stuck around anyway.

Suddenly, the girls found themselves watching the shorter girl undress before them, her choice of attire revealing a very tight, slim and well taken care of body. The smooth expanse of beautiful tan skin that had been exposed left both girls speechless. Rachel was proudly sporting a white two piece suit that complimented her skin tone and body quite nicely. The brunette flipped her hair and winked at Norah (or was that aimed at Kristine?) "Well, now that I don't need your permission to undress anymore, guess I'll go for a swim. Let's keep this pretend friendship going on the weekends and you can return to being your grumpy selves during the week. It won't kill you to be nice I promise." She told them before she walked away from them, swaying her hips to send her message across. Kristine was glued to the spot as her eyes greedily drank in the sight of the new girl's ass in that super awesome bikini bottom. Despite the awful way the girl dressed, she had to respect the body underneath those articles of clothing. She was brought out of her trance when she felt a soft slap to the face. "Kristine Hummel, goddamn it, I was talking to you. Looks like you're craving that exotic piece of Berry pie, I can tell. Your pupils are dilated. Since when do you ever show interest in anyone other than yourself?" Norah joked as she tried to avoid Kristine's attempt to punch her in response to the slap.

"Shut up! Look who's talking. You got rejected by a nerd and that was the funniest shit I personally witnessed. Also, berry pie, really? When are you not horny, Puckerman?" Kristine asked with a shit eating grin on her face. Norah had to laugh at that because really it was actually kind of funny since she deserved it. Both girls decided to dress down as well so they could join in on the games taking place in the pool. Norah would forgive her younger sister Jenna for throwing this party if she teamed up with her during an innocent game of volleyball so they could easily win against Brent and Santiago. As for Kristine, she simply took a dip in the pool, avoiding Rachel at all costs before she eventually got bored and laid down on the nearest lounging chair so she could dry up and tan. She thought about what Norah had said to her. She wasn't attracted to the new girl, she was sure of it. Kristine Hummel didn't have time to crush on girls that would never be good enough for her; she wasted most of her freshman year pursuing girls who ended up using her and look where that got her. Sure, Rachel had a pretty face and a bangin' bod she could totally appreciate but what good would it do to be attracted to someone who was trying to prove she was the best singer at school when that title once belonged to Kristine herself? She couldn't be attracted to anyone she deemed her rival, especially since she planned on squashing that girl's dreams of rebuilding the glee club.

Rachel was starting to feel self conscious in the pool as Finn had earlier before Sam convinced him it was totally okay to be half naked around gay girls and that he didn't have man boobs. She nearly forgot that this was no longer a universe in which the boys drooled over half naked wet girls in the pool as that responsibility belonged to other _girls._ She wasn't homophobic, she was just starting to feel like she wasn't pretty enough for them to look at and that feeling was bizarre, something she wasn't used to and it confused her. After a game of volleyball that she had won along with her partner Devin, Rachel decided it was time to get out of the pool so she could relax. The ladder that was nearest to her was placed in front of Kristine's spot and she couldn't help but feel anxious at the thought of climbing out of the pool in front of the Cheerio. She squelched down those negative feelings as she should feel very proud of her body and it shouldn't matter what Kristine thought about her anyway. Rachel dipped her head underwater once more so she could smooth out her hair once more before she began climbing out of the water. When she got out, she noticed that Kristine Hummel dropped her glass and openly stared at her. What the hell was her problem? Why was she getting under Rachel's skin so quickly? It suddenly felt very chilly as her sensitive nipples immediately ached to the cool air that teased her body. "Rachel, your top! You left it in the pool!" Devin cried out as she held it up in the air.

Glancing at the top in her friend's hand, she turned her attention back to Kristine whose face was completely red yet the other girl refused to look away. It must have been shock but at least she wasn't laughing. Rachel groaned as she observed her very naked torso and immediately crossed her arms as soon as she realized this wasn't some paranoid fantasy of hers. She squealed and ran over to where Devin was, one arm extending out so she could grab her top. She continued blushing and lowered her head in complete embarrassment as she ran back inside the house with Jenna and Marley immediately trying to escort her inside. The wolf whistles and the comments, Kristine's reaction and Devin's flustered look…it all got to Rachel in the worst possible way. She wasn't sure if she could forgive herself for putting herself in such a compromising position at her first social gathering of the year. Despite Marley's attempt to calm her down, Rachel ignored her and locked herself inside the bathroom. As soon as she changed back into her regular clothes, she'd walk back home. She knew for a fact that she couldn't face her new friends again after this little incident. It wasn't like they'd want to be friends with her anymore after that little free show anyway.


	6. Hoping Wounds Heal but They Never Do

**Hoping Wounds Heal but They Never Do  
**

**Notes: **I absolutely appreciate everyone's thoughts on this story so far and your opinions on certain characters. Please continue to read and review if you do so happen to enjoy what's happening so far. This chapter is mainly about Kristine's history. (:

"_These battle scars don't look like they're fading.  
Don't look like they're ever going away,  
they ain't ever gonna change…"_

Kristine had just arrived home late from work, exhausted and hungry yet didn't have any desire to immediately microwave the lunch she had brought with her. She had been distracted all evening and it was surprising how much it affected her work. The hormonal teen bit her lip as she suppressed the groan threatening to pass her lips, her forehead resting against the steering wheel of her car with images of a certain topless brunette bombarding her mind. She felt like such a typical sex deprived lesbian teen on the verge of an emotional breakdown just because somebody had unintentionally flashed a pair of awesome breasts. She didn't mean to stare but she just couldn't help it; they were right there looking perky and cute. The Cheerio vehemently shakes her head so she could permanently expunge the depiction of a half nude Rachel Berry from her thoughts. _'It doesn't mean anything!_' Kristine assures herself repeatedly, thinking nothing more of the incident that had occurred the other day. Or at least she attempted to stop dwelling on the events of the pool party she had crashed with her friends. It was just so difficult to resist the image of the half naked wet brunette standing before her and it drove her insane. Had it really been that long since she had been intimate with anyone else other than herself?

Almost immediately, she felt guilt overwhelm her and it seemed to motivate her to step out of the car so she could greet her father and his caretaker. She needn't worry about such trivial things in high school as she had so much to aspire to in her future so she could take better care of her battered family. Being under the influence of hormones was an annoying obstacle she had to overcome because if she let herself become distracted, then she was certain something terrible would happen yet again and there would be nothing she could do to prevent it. She allowed herself freedom in the past but because of her negligence, her father ended up the way he was today since she wasn't there for him when it happened. Kristine will never stop blaming herself for the accident, despite her father's assurance that it hadn't been her fault. When she walked in through the door, she was met with the sight of Burt Hummel using his upper body strength to pull himself back onto the couch. The Cheerio sighed and walked towards her father and without saying a word she lifted him back on to the sofa and ignored his pleas to let him be. She couldn't stop worrying about him, she loved him too much and she didn't want to lose him the way she lost her mothers when they chose to walk out of their lives after the accident.

"Kristine, I've told you countless times that I'm a grown man capable of taking care of myself. So I fell, it's not like it was going to kill me." Burt Hummel mumbled as Kristine helped her father adjust comfortably on the couch. The brunette shook her head and kissed him on the forehead before she straightened up in front of him. "Dad, I love you. I respect your need for independence, I really do, but I can't control my incessant worrying. I just want to make sure that you're okay and as soon as I know that you are, I'll be okay." She replied as she dropped off her belongings in the closet. She returned to the living room only to be scrutinized even further by her father. The way he looked at her made her feel anxious; he was the only person in the world that could see right through her and Kristine loathed her vulnerability. She could try to mask her emotions but at the end of the day, her father knew better and she'd have to force herself to open up to him. "Kris, you look exhausted. Something's on your mind and you're not telling me; you'll feel so much better if you just let it all out." He told her, patting down the seat next to him. Kristine breathed harshly through her nose, feeling her stomach knot with great trepidation. She hesitated for a moment before she joined him on the sofa, crossing her legs and folding her arms across her chest as if she were reluctant to talk to her father. There were so many things she was dying to tell him but she was too ashamed to actually confess some of her wrong doings. The problem she struggled with the most was the fact that she didn't know where or how to begin unloading on her father.

The cheerleader sighed and began nervously playing with her fingers out of habit, trying to avoid making eye contact with her father until she could no longer bear the silence. Maybe it would be good for her to let him in, despite what he would actually think of her. Her reluctance to open up to her father hurt him more than it hurt her and she did not want to be the cause of his suffering through ignorance any longer. "Dad, there's so much I need to tell you but I know for a fact you're not going to like what you have to hear. After two and a half years of keeping so much inside, I-I think it's time we have this talk. You said to let it all out then by God I'll let it all out." Her voice trembled, lips quivering and body shaking. Tears were already beginning to form in her eyes. She didn't realize how she quickly she could react to such a seemingly simple question. She didn't know what it was or what really caused her to break. It could have been her exhaustion, her mild irritation with how things had been going for her lately or the stress she's been feeling ever since she took on a job that prevented her from spending time with what's left of her family. Burt looked concerned and scooted closer to his only begotten daughter; he wrapped an arm around her shoulder and gazed into her sad eyes. "Kristine, I want you to know that whenever you feel bothered by something, you feel free to pull me aside and vent to me. I am here to listen to you and help you overcome any uncomfortable situation you find yourself in. Now, start from the beginning. What happened?"

Kristine sighed once more before she shut her eyes and began speaking about how she wished things turned out differently ever since the accident a couple of years ago. She remembered a time when they were actually happy and making ends meet without struggle. Her mothers had spent fifteen years raising her with Burt's support and they had all lived happily together once upon a time. They taught her how to use her creative energy wisely, enrolling her in several dance classes, sports and outdoor activities, arts and crafts clubs before she showed them that singing had been something that came absolutely natural to her. She loved singing, so much so that she and her mothers had sung to each other nightly before they had gone to bed and Burt would watch from afar and admire his daughter's talent silently as it continued to grow just as much as she had over the years. One day, she decides to jumpstart a glee club at school with several of friends from her choir classes back when she was in junior high. Kristine was so thrilled that people were excited at the prospect of Glee making a huge comeback that she ended up gathering a large number of supporters and sponsors to ensure that the glee club was well funded and taken care of. She sung her heart out and through the connection of music and her voice she reached out to several other people much like herself who worked just as hard to make the glee club work. They eventually became one of the top three contenders for Sectionals and they had certainly earned that right. It wasn't until the day of Sectionals that a certain event would change her life and the way she viewed the world forever.

Burt had been running late and informed Kristine just a few minutes before the club took the stage that he would make it just in time for solo. When she took the stage that fateful day, she searched for him in the crowd but didn't see him there and that had broken her heart. She tried toughing it out halfway through her _Defying Gravity _solo but she choked on that high "F" note and that's when she had realized that something had gone horribly wrong. Before the club had made its infamous appearance on stage for their first ever Sectionals performance in years, Finn Hudson was a fifteen year old boy learning how to drive. He had earned his driver's learning permit and his mother Carole was just so proud of him that she allowed him the opportunity to drive her car home. When they shared a mutually excited look, Finn made the unintentional mistake of looking away and his car quickly aimed itself at an oblivious Burt Hummel walking to the driver's side of his vehicle. When both Carole and Finn realized the error he had made, it was too little too late and they found themselves running into Burt whose body had flown across the street. Finn slammed the brakes. Burt rolled over underneath the tremendous weight of the vehicle but managed to survive. Carole had panicked, Finn burst into tears, and the ambulance arrived in a timely manner. By the time Kristine received the devastating phone call, she had been humiliated at Sectionals and everybody around her had blamed her for their loss.

She explains to her father that the news absolutely killed her and she had been so upset that she didn't realize how much it actually affected her. She was fifteen years of age and she was bitter. Her state of mind worsened when her mothers announced that they were leaving Burt as they were too "fucking selfish" to take care of a paralyzed man and his daughter. They still wanted to maintain a relationship with Kristine but their negligence had angered her so much that she disowned them. Every time they had called, she would ignore them, tore up their letters and packages and deleted their emails as soon as she would receive them. They still had the nerve to continue reaching out to her this day but she swore on her life that she would never forgive them as the wounds of that fateful day and what followed afterwards were still too fresh in her mind. Watching her father go through intense physical therapy brought an immeasurable amount of pain to Kristine that she eventually lost interest in everything she once cherished in her life, singing being one of those most important things. Her obsession with self worth and fitness consumed her mind and she eventually focused on becoming a Cheerio as she was constantly tormented with the reminder that she was the sole reason McKinley's glee club lost any real credibility. If she could become the head cheerleader under Sue Sylvester's watchful eye, then she could instill fear in everybody and they would leave her alone. It took awhile but she proved herself to the strictest teacher that resided in Lima, possibly all of Ohio, and the woman understood her pain more than anybody else had cared to show.

Kristine didn't realize she was crying until tears fell at an alarmingly fast rate. She refused to look up at her father as she unloaded everything that had been killing her from the inside since the accident. She continued going on about how powerful she felt about being a cheerleader and that with great power she could use all of it to her advantage. She finally approached the very touchy subject of Finn Hudson and her obsession with making him pay for his careless mistake. When she learned of his heterosexuality, she used it as an excuse to pick on the boy despite his pleas for forgiveness. That was her problem; she didn't know how to let go, forgive and move on. He was the sole reason that her father was permanently paralyzed from the waist down, her mothers were officially out of the picture because of his actions, and she couldn't find joy in singing for the simple fun of it anymore because of _him_. "Dad, I-I had my friends hold him down while I wrote nasty things on his skin with a permanent marker before we dumped him in the dumpster just the other day. I don't know why I do it anymore; it's at that point where it's become habitual and if I quit cold turkey, I think it could break me. I loathe what he did to you! I just don't remember how to be happy anymore and ruining his day somehow makes it all better for me when I know it shouldn't. That's it, that's what's been bothering me for awhile now and I've been too ashamed to talk to you about it. It also doesn't help that I hate my lousy fucking minimum wage job and that I'm fucking lonely all the time." She sobbed, wiping the excessive amount of snot and tears with some Kleenex before she felt the courage to finally look up at father and observe his reaction.

What she saw sent chills down her spine as he held an odd look on his face that she hadn't seen before. It was something that reminded her of disappointment. Burt appeared to be on the verge of tears because of the rant his daughter had just let out and he didn't know where to start. He sensed something was off but he really had no idea how much had been going on through Kristine's mind since his accident. He didn't realize how angry she was or how hurt she had been because she hid those emotions well and it must have had something to do with the fact that she was very well distracted with her job and the Cheerios. She was so worried and angry that she allowed herself to take her frustrations on some boy who was barely learning how to drive at the time, she no longer sang to vent out anymore as she chose a physical activity over something that meant so much to her at one point in her life, and she was selfish enough to keep all this away from him so he wouldn't find out how much of a monster she had become because she refused to let go the way he had. "Kristine, I don't understand why you decided to tell me all of this _now_ but why didn't you come to me sooner? All those times that I've asked you point blank what was wrong, you lied to me and did this behind my back. What the hell do you want me to say?" He asked as his voice quickly rose and the tone causing Kristine to flinch. He had never spoken to her that way before but it keeps her in place. Could it bring her peace of mind now that she opened up to him? Was this bad timing? Should she have kept her mouth shut so she could continue doing what she was doing only to make things worse for herself? She didn't know but all she desperately wanted was to tell him everything that had been going on like he asked.

"Dad, you asked me what was wrong and I told you everything that's been on my mind for the past couple of months. I-I don't know why I unloaded everything on to you like that, maybe it was a bad time." She replies as she prepares to walk out of the room. Burt wasn't having any of that and reached out for her hand and forced her to face him again. "Kristine Elizabeth Hummel, you're not walking away from me that easy when you've been doing that to me for years with this Cheerios and part time job garbage as your daily excuses. I deserve to comprehend why my beloved daughter gave up the one thing that made her happy to be a soulless bully." He said a little more softly this time, his hand wrapping around his daughter's as if it were a delicate flower. Kristine's shoulders slumped when she saw that a tear had fallen; she'd been the one who had hurt him when she promised she wouldn't be the one to cause him any more pain. "I'm losing sight of myself, daddy, and it scares me that I don't know what's going to happen to you after I graduate next year. All I feel anymore is the pressure to be perfect, the stress of school because I don't know what I want to do after high school, and anxiety that I'll never be good enough to make it out there on my own. I take it out on Finn, kids who don't conform to society, geeks, potheads and people who seem to be happy without having much of anything. I do it because I don't have any sense of fulfillment like they do and it sucks." Kristine confessed, feeling uncomfortable with her vulnerability.

The only other person she had ever discussed these feelings with was her first girlfriend, Jesse St. James. Her heart twisted and ached at the memory of her first love who ended up walking out on her not long after her father's accident. The narcissistic lead female of Vocal Adrenaline had been supportive of her dreams at first, taking her time to assist her rival from McKinley to become better than she thought she was as she had been mentoring choir students as her part time job back then. Feelings grew, Kristine was smitten and Jesse showed her the ropes. It wasn't until her embarrassing loss at Sectionals that Jesse grew cold and distant; ignoring her when she needed someone to listen to her while her father was is the hospital and eventually brushing her off when all Kristine wanted was someone to be there for after her mothers left. Jesse humiliated her with an awful break-up text, telling her that she didn't have time for somebody who was a hot mess and couldn't figure themselves out. Kristine took it hard, finding it unbelievable that someone could be that cruel and harsh when all she had ever been was nice and caring. She just wanted a taste of what it felt like to be someone as strong and influential as Jesse, to be the one who encouraged recklessness and disregard for other people's feelings and for Kristine, it felt great. She wasn't being stepped on all the time, people stopped teasing her for what happened at sectionals and she was taking care of her father because despite what other people thought, she wasn't completely heartless.

Burt didn't reply right away but he did pull Kristine in for a hug and she ended up sobbing onto his shoulders right on contact. He ran his fingers through her hair and whispered soothing words into her ears. He didn't know exactly what to say but he tried his best to comfort his troubled daughter. As for Kristine, she could only hold onto her father tighter as she continued crying uncontrollably. "Maybe the only reason you've lost that sense of fulfillment is because you shut down that glee club of yours. Just because some other assholes bullied you into closing off the most important part of yourself to fight back doesn't mean you should listen to what they have to say. You look happy when you sing and I loved it when you sang, Kris. Your voice is beautiful and you're the most talented person I know." He continued, now fully embracing his daughter sitting across his lap. Kristine pulled away for a bit and offered her father a small, embarrassed smile, sniffling a little as she did so. "Our glee club had a name, you know; we were Intonation Proclivity or I-squared for short. What makes you think that glee kept me in line or what makes you assume that it's my lifeline? What makes you think that I wasn't meant for the Cheerios?" She asked, genuinely curious as to why her father would assume such a thing.

Burt only chuckled in response before he looked at her seriously for a moment. "Singing is your passion, Kristine. It's in your blood and you brought your natural talent to the table. You were able to lead your team to a competition because you believed in what it stood for and you had what it took to get there. You made a mistake that you're unable to forgive yourself for and let others persuade you that it was the most humiliating thing to ever happen to you. You're a human being and you're allowed to make mistakes; some people will be kind enough to educate you with patience while others will be condescending little punks. I taught you better than that, Kristine, I taught you to be better than this." He told her, allowing Kristine to pull away so she could lie on the couch beside him. She was taking what he had to say to heart, the words sinking in deeply and leaving a profound effect on her. Deep down, she knew he was right but there was still something holding her back. "I don't think I could go back to where I was, dad. If I stay on the squad, I'll get a full scholarship ride to any school of my choosing so why should I focus on rebuilding something I thoroughly destroyed in my past when I should be looking forward to paving a path to my future?"

At this point, she is uncertain about most things but the one thing she could count on is not going back to where it all began. It hurt too much. She doesn't think she'll be willing to relinquish the power she held over the student body because if she showed any signs of weakness, they'll get on her for that one thing she can't forgive herself for. The wounds are still too fresh, deeply embedded into her memory and heart and if anyone plucked at the strings that kept her together, she would fall apart and she couldn't let that happen again. "Kristine, it's up to you what you want to do but do something that makes you happy, not something that gives you the power to bully other kids or because it makes you popular and well-liked. You'll be doing it for the good of yourself; you have the power to bring out the best in you because no one else can do that for you. I love you, kiddo, but please do me a favor and get your shit together." Burt half joked as Kristine playfully pinched his arm in retaliation. The Cheerio thought about what she wanted to say next, something that could bring some sort of relief to get rid of the remaining amount of tension in the room.

"Well, if you must know…there's this new girl at school, goes by the name of Rachel, and I overheard her and Sam Evans talking about reviving the glee club all over again. Do you remember Samantha? Anyway, I'm not sure if it's a thing that's going to happen for sure but if I promise to at least audition, will you get off my case about the Cheerios? If I want to stay on the squad, it's my choice but I also want to prove to myself that I still have it in me and show you that it's still there." Kristine told Burt, wondering if she really would go through with it since her feelings about Sectionals were still too strong. She just wanted to assure him that she hadn't completely lost herself, but maybe she really did want to show herself that she still held that piece of herself that meant so much at one point in her life. Burt pondered what his daughter was telling him and he smiled in response.

"I want to make it clear that I want you to do something because you want to and not because you're obligated to. As much as I would love to hear you singing and seeing you being happy, just go ahead and do what you have to do to figure yourself out. Besides, you didn't tell me that there was a new girl at McKinley. That's got to be interesting, who would want to live out here in Lima, Ohio? Is she cute, Kristine?" Burt teased, causing his daughter to blush at the unexpected question. Almost immediately, the image of a topless brunette came to mind and she had to clear her throat to focus on reality again. "Uh, I don't know why people keep asking me that. I haven't noticed, I swear, I'm much too busy with things and stuff, dad. Listen, I better head to bed, it's getting late. Thank you for listening, I really needed that. I love you, goodnight!" She told him quickly as she planted a kiss on his cheek. Burt raised his eyebrow and smirked as he watched his flustered daughter almost trip down the stairs that led to her room.

* * *

Kristine couldn't fall asleep right away. She couldn't relax as she continuously tossed and turned in her bed. Every time she closed her eyes to dream pleasantly, unwanted memories sprang up and consumed her thoughts. She would fall asleep for a few minutes and she would find herself looking back at Jesse St. James who sneered at her and walked away from her, leaving her brokenhearted as she called for help. She'd wake up in a cold sweat and panting really hard, not wanting to relive that particular time in her life when she was in love and broken all at that the same time. Kristine was restless as dreams of the accident flooded her mind as she attempted to sleep peacefully. Nightmares of Finn's frightened face as he confessed to her and her mothers about what he'd done at the hospital and the endless hospital hallways that stretched as she ran to try and find the room her father was in. Burt's motionless form on the hospital bed as he struggled to wake up from what happened to him and the doctors holding Kristine back with chains as they injected her with some kind of poison that had Kristine desperately waking with fresh tears in her eyes. She hated these nights where she was constantly reminded her of her fears and those recurring nightmares didn't do much to calm her down either. She knew that she wasn't going to get a good night's rest so she got out of bed and wandered back upstairs to grab a glass of water to down her father's sleeping aid pills she planned on taking.

Upon her return, Kristine laid herself in bed once again in a futile attempt to get some much needed rest but as soon as she closed her eyes, she found herself moaning not long after. When she fell asleep for that brief moment, she was at ease and everything felt peaceful. Suddenly, Kristine found that her mouth was watering at the sight of a very familiar short brunette stripping herself of her clothing and revealing a firm and tight body in that bikini. Wide blue eyes snapped open and the brunette thrashed about in bed for a good couple of minutes as if that tantrum would relieve her of her frustrations. "If it's not one thing, it's another. What complete horseshit." Kristine whispered to herself, turning over on her side and reaching over for her cell phone so she could vent to Norah who would most likely still be awake at this hour.


	7. Heartache and Pain

**Heartache and Pain**

**Notes:** _This chapter balances Rachel's new life and the previous one she left behind. I'll be doing this on and off to bring the element of the story together. Please read and review, constructive criticism is always appreciated._

Rachel was worried. It had been well over a week since she's been adjusting to this new life of hers and she feels like she hasn't made any progress when it came back to returning to what she once knew. As much as she appreciated this different perspective of life in what she deems the parallel universe, she was starting to inwardly panic at the idea of not being able to go back. In reality, she missed her fathers, she missed her friends the way they were despite their rocky beginnings and more than anything she missed the feeling of nearly accomplishing her Broadway dreams. At this point, she didn't know what she was doing wrong or what she needed to do in order to return to her old life. She never felt the kind of anxiety that she was feeling now and every time she thought about what's been missing in her life, she would be on the verge of a powerful anxiety attack that would no doubt take her breath away. She maintained a calm and confident demeanor to appear as if she truly blended in this bizarre society when Rachel felt as if she were constantly being tormented by her past and inability to go back. For these reasons, she'd been avoiding her new friends upon their return the following Monday after the party as she was too distracted with her personal problems to focus on her budding social life. She was also still embarrassed after she had unintentionally flashed them her unimpressive set of breasts.

She was gathering her binders for her next classes when she felt a familiar presence loom over her. Before Rachel could say anything, however, Sam made her jump when she ran her fingers across the singer's exposed neck, which tickled more than anything. "Hey well if it isn't Tits McGee! What it do baby boo? We've been looking everywhere for you. Do you not want to hang out with us anymore or something?" The lacrosse player inquired as she played with Rachel's hair. It seemed as if the other girl didn't believe in personal space since she basically pressed her breasts against the singer's collarbone. Rachel blushed furiously but gazed into the taller girl's eyes undeterred, determined to keep up the façade she'd been trying to maintain flawlessly. "Samantha, you startled me. I've been rather busy today trying to figure out how we can hold glee auditions this week while attempting to find a teacher who will support the revival of the glee club. Also, I've been thinking of several different ways we can persuade the student body into joining when we finally establish New Directions." She replied under one breath, provoking the older girl to roll her eyes at her mini speech. Sam sighed and pulled her hand away from her little buddy as she offered the other girl a gentle smile.

"Good, I thought you were purposely avoiding us because you might have been embarrassed by what happened at the pool party. Nice boobs by the way, we all thought so." Sam teased as she surprised Rachel by reaching towards her chest and squeezing what little she could find. Rachel squealed and the older girl giggled at her reaction. Before Rachel could reply, Finn made an appearance and grinned at the smaller girl when he approached the two girls casually. He was no longer shying away from the people who surrounded him and although people made rude comments about his heterosexuality, he took it in stride and ignored them. Rachel was so proud of him for that. "Rachel, I couldn't help but overhear your plans for Glee. I love the name, it's pretty cool. Also, props for flashing your boobs at the party on Saturday; totally made me feel less guilty for showing off my orangutan titties. Yours are really pretty though, I hope you didn't take that the wrong way!" Finn awkwardly mumbled, blushing when he saw that his words caused Sam to double over with laughter. Rachel found herself covering her face as she laughed at his comments. He was trying to be funny but he was also trying to be polite about making an offensive joke. It was so typically Finn but at least in this universe he seemed sincerely apologetic. "I can't believe I find your disgusting humor funny but hey, at least you're deceptively charming enough to get away with it." Rachel replied, slamming her locker shut and walking towards her next class.

Finn and Sam continued walking alongside of her, teasing each other and making inappropriate comments about a surprise threesome in the middle of hallway. The diva didn't know what it was about Sam that brought out Finn's confidence but he seemed so comfortable around her, the scared seventeen year old boy she had pulled out of the dumpster a week ago no longer present. Rachel found that she wasn't jealous at the fact that Sam had earned Finn's affections; in fact, she was happy for him and she secretly encouraged it. She wasn't sure why it no longer bothered her but she was relieved that she could finally let him go after so many years of being involved in a dysfunctional relationship with him. Just as they were about to reach Rachel and Sam's shared English honors class, Rachel's heart thumped when she saw that Norah Puckerman, Quinton Fabray, and Kristine Hummel were walking towards her. The Cheerio caught Rachel's gaze and they must have both shared the same thoughts of Rachel flashing the other girl her breasts since Kristine's light porcelain skin made it painfully obvious that she was blushing.

Norah expectedly smirked and eyed her up and down as the unusually quiet Quinton tried not to laugh at his friend's expense. When they passed each other, Kristine awkwardly held Rachel's stare and actually hesitated for a moment before she said, "Hey short stuff, try not to trip and lose your clothes in the process." It was a really lame attempt to tease the younger girl and she must have realized she should have kept her mouth shut because even though they had walked away from the trio, she could hear Kristine freaking out. "Why didn't either of you slap me? That sounded like a lame pickup line, Jesus H. Christ!" Rachel couldn't help but chuckle as this was a side of Kristine that she hadn't seen before and she had to admit it was precious. Even Kurt had been smoother than that when it came to snapping at Rachel when she had offended him. "Well, that was interesting. Did you notice how her eyes went straight to your chest before she looked up again? What a suppressed lesbi-gay, she totes needs to get laid." Samantha said before she turned her attention back to Rachel. Finn and Sam stopped walking when they noticed that they left the tiny singer behind. Their smiles immediately disappeared when they realized that Rachel was openly staring at Kristine from afar. The brunette was lost in thought. The way Kristine's hair had been done that morning showed off that familiar jaw line that she been so accustomed to in her previous life and those hauntingly pretty blue eyes triggered memories that had Rachel gasping for air.

"Good luck winning without me."_  
"Everyone is replaceable, even you."  
_

"I thought we were friends."_  
"What made you think that?"_

"_You need something to distract from your horrible personality. Most of the time, I can't stand being in the same room as you."_

"_Rachel's one of us. We're the only ones who get to humiliate her."_

Every awful thing Kurt had ever said to her nearly hit her all at once and it was so overwhelming, she somehow forced the memories to stop replaying in her mind. It was too late. Rachel was breathing hard and everything felt as if she were being suffocated to death walking down this extremely crowded hallway. She clutched onto her heart as if that would provide some comfort but it didn't. She couldn't breathe and it made her even more anxious than she ever felt before in her life. "Finn, I think she's having an anxiety attack or something, go get the nurse!" Sam cried as she ran over to Rachel who was now beginning to panic completely. The singer latched onto the blond and tried to maintain eye contact with her but that somehow only made everything worse. "S-Sam, I-I can't…I can't breathe." She gasped out, now realizing that she had been leaning against the lockers and slowly falling to the ground. They were causing quite a scene as curious students nearby decided to crowd around Rachel, which didn't make things easier for her. Tears were beginning to fall, her heart was racing at an impossibly fast rate and now her ears were beginning to pop. Sam's mouth was moving but she couldn't hear anything she was saying. When she looked up to the other side, she'd noticed Kristine's group of friends surrounded her as well.

The Cheerio was attempting to control the crowd, pushing them back and yelling at the clueless student body. "She's having an anxiety attack, you morons! She needs to breathe; back up or I swear on my life I'll kick you in the teeth! Did I stutter, Jewfro!? Back up, she can't breathe! You're all idiots!" When she finished scolding them, the Cheerio turned to make eye contact with Rachel and there was concern in her eyes; she held that same look Kurt did when she confessed to imagining her funeral a lot in high school that one time and it sent a wave of unwanted memories washing over her.

"I just really want to be your friend again."  
"_Well maybe you should have thought of that before you walked all over me on your borderline sociopathic climb to the top."_

Rachel shut her eyes and forced those memories away but realization hit her hard; this wasn't her home and these were strangers that surrounded her. Why was she getting so comfortable when she was supposed to be figuring out a way to get back to New York in her apartment with Brody, Kurt and Santana? When her eyes snapped open, she swore her heart stopped beating when she saw Kurt's familiar figure looming over her wearing his best suit and smiling sadly at her. He suddenly transformed back into Kristine and the girl was still barking out orders even as Sue Sylvester and an unfamiliar teacher began making their way towards them. The singer couldn't breathe; it was getting harder every minute and she couldn't fathom why she was unable to get a hold of herself. Suddenly, the attack stops and everything goes white as her eyes slowly close. She doesn't know what happened. She can't explain what overcame her but what followed led her to having strange dreams she knew she wasn't going to remember as soon as she woke up.

* * *

Kurt had been pacing back and forth down the hallway like a madman, running his fingers through his unkempt hair as he struggled to maintain his composure. Adam was leaning against the wall with a sad look etched on his face when he realized he couldn't do a thing to comfort his boyfriend. He attempted to soothe him by singing lullabies, holding him tightly, and by whispering reassuring words into his ears only to no avail. Kurt was not calm and collected at this point; he was frantic and distraught. When Blaine made an appearance, it only made things worse and a fight broke out between them until Will Schuster had to remind them of where they were. They were at the hospital Rachel had been brought to just days ago and they were patiently waiting. Blaine continued glaring at Adam and Kurt before he decided to pay attention to the ground with his arms folding across his chest. Mr. Schuster and his wife, Emma, were standing beside each other and discussing how unfair this whole thing was to Rachel's family but the Berry men insisted that Rachel's friends could lend a hand in their attempts to wake her from the coma her doctors said she was in for an undetermined amount of time.

Finn had just walked out of Rachel's room with the saddest look upon his face that Kurt had ever seen. He glanced at Kurt and shook his head, walking with his head down and headed straight for their mother's arms. Carol wrapped her arms around Finn and kissed him on the cheek, attempting to comfort him but unable to find the right words to say to her heartbroken son. "I sung '_Faithfully_' to her mom, but she didn't even budge. Do you think she'll ever wake up?" He asked quietly. Kurt could tell he was trying very hard not to break down but seeing the girl he loved laying in a hospital bed already did so much damage to the poor boy's heart. Kurt wasn't sure of Carol's response when he realized it was his turn to visit Rachel in her room. Just days ago, Santana, Rachel, Adam, and Kurt were enjoying Moulin Rouge in the living room and now they were trapped in this unexpected nightmare. As he stopped directly in front of the door, he turned to face Brittany and Santana cuddling closely together on the floor when Brittany gazed into his eyes with fresh tears threatening to escape her own. "D-do you think this happened to Rachel because we were all very mean to her? I don't want her to die because that's not fair! I take back every horrible thing I've ever said to her face and behind her back if it means she'll wake up and sing 'My Headband' again." She said before sobbing onto Santana's shoulders uncontrollably. Santana and Kurt exchanged an unsettling look before the exotic dancer attempted to comfort her former lover. This wasn't easy. Kurt felt nauseous and anxious but he knew he had to try and wake up his best friend from the coma she _**didn't**_ deserve to be in.

When he entered the room, it was eerily silent as he asked for permission to be alone with Rachel from her fathers. The sight of the machines and monitors her life was depending on is almost enough to make Kurt vomit because this was not how he ever wanted to see her. He ambled towards her motionless body and could barely tell if she was alive or not if it wasn't for the extremely subtle actions of her breathing. He was facing her and it made him feel uneasy as he noted a few bruises covering her body. He took a seat beside Rachel and wrapped his hand around hers. She was still warm but barely; it terrified him that he was on the brink of losing someone he loved again. He briefly wondered how she would react to the news that the doctors had to completely remove the lower half of her legs because they had been mangled and rendered useless due to the train running over them. It saddened him knowing that Rachel would try to give up her dreams of making it on Broadway because of this but he made a promise to support her dreams one hundred percent if she ever woke up. No; it wasn't if she woke up, it was more like when she would wake up. Kurt vowed to make sure she would live out her dreams the way she intended to and he would be there for her to back her up the way she backed him during his time with the Warblers.

"Rachel, you have no idea how much this scares me seeing you like this. You're my best friend and I want you to know that I'll be here for you when you wake up. I miss you and I want you to wake up knowing that you are loved and no one ever wanted you to be in this position. Please, wake up darling." He whispers as a few tears begin to shed. He presses his lips against her forehead and pulls away, noticing that there hadn't been any kind of sign that she felt his actions or heard his words in her deep slumber. He closes his eyes and he finds comfort in the memories they shared together. He wants her back more than anything and it kills him to see her like this. Love conquered all; it was supposed to prevail over anything and he hoped that his love for his best friend would be enough to wake her up from the coma she was in. Kurt sighs and decides to sing one of his favorite songs in order to send the message clearly over to her.

"_I gotta take a little time,  
a little time to think things over.  
I better read between the lines  
in case I need it when I'm older…_

_Now this mountain I must climb._  
_Feels like a world upon my shoulders_.  
_Through the clouds I see love shines  
__It keeps me warm as life grows colder."_

When he looked over to Rachel's sleeping form, he burst into tears when he realized she hadn't moved once. She was still breathing, that much was clear, but it killed him that even through his sincere efforts nothing seemed to be helping. "Wake up, Rachel. Wake up, damn you!" He cried out loud, resting his head on their joined hands. He didn't want to let her go; he needed to make sure that his face was the first thing she saw when she finally woke up. As selfish as that sounded, it would make him unbelievably happy if she could fight whatever kind of hell she was going through and he could be the person to comfort her in her time of need.

* * *

Rachel was beginning to stir, the whiteness she had seen earlier before dissolving into many brilliant colors blending in with each other. She heard a few familiar voices but she couldn't make out any of the faces she was seeing before her. When she realized where she was, she inwardly groaned at the fact she wasn't waking up from some elaborate nightmare back in New York but instead in the nurse's office back at McKinley. She remembers having an anxiety attack back in the hallway, but it felt so much more powerful than that. Rachel tried sitting up but someone's hand gently pushed her back. In the background, she finally realized that she could hear brilliant singing and when she turned to locate the source, she let out a gasp in surprise. Kristine Hummel was sitting across from her with Quinton and Norah singing along with her.

"_In my life there's been heartache and pain  
I don't know if I can face it again.  
Can't stop now, I've traveled so far  
To change this lonely life…_

_I want to know what love is_  
_I want you to show me_  
_I want to feel what love is_  
_I know you can show me"_

When Kristine caught Rachel staring at her, she blushed heavily and cleared her throat. Samantha and Finn looked relieved when they saw that the tiny girl was fully awake now. Rachel offered the trio sitting across from her a kind smile before she turned to face her friends who had been kneeling beside her bed. "Welcome back to reality, Berry. You gave us a scare. I thought you were having an asthma attack but it turned out to be severe anxiety. Are you okay? Did we trigger some unpleasant memories or something?" Sam asked softly as she played with Rachel's hair again. Rachel slowly allowed herself to sit up, trying desperately to remember what she had been dreaming about but everything came up blank. It was so bizarre. "It wasn't your fault, Sam. I'm not prone to having anxiety attacks but I'll admit that ever since I moved here, everything hasn't felt the same. I'm still adjusting; you just have to give me time." She replied as she pulled both Sam and Finn in for a brief hug. She shut her eyes as she reveled in the comfort that they both brought her. When her eyes snapped open, she found herself curiously staring at the ice pack on Kristine's hand. Sam noticed Rachel's confusion and turned her attention to the infamous trio preparing to leave the nurse's office.

"Devin freaked out when she found out that you were struggling to breathe and whatnot so she tried to get close to you despite Coach Sylvester's warnings. Kristine was actually being nice and tried telling her to back off because you needed space but you know their relationship history so one thing led to another and Kristine knocked Devin out. Devin's currently in the other room trying to repair her bruised ego and bloody nose." Sam explained while trying to suppress her laughter. Rachel tilted her head in disbelief and glanced back at the Cheerio who was rolling her eyes at the way Samantha told the story. "Look, Berry, you were freaking out and I thought you were dying so it freaked me out a little. After my dad's accident, he started having panic attacks and I just used common sense; Devin was being a little clingy and I had to shut her up. Her method of rescuing you was to smother you some more and hog all the available oxygen you needed and I wasn't going to stand for it. Cause you know that's a lame way to go out, especially since you're new around here." Kristine rambled on dramatically, crossing her arms defiantly when Quinton shot her an annoying knowing look. She stomped on his foot and elbowed Norah in the ribs because they both were driving her up the wall with their constant teasing.

"So what if I sang to you while you were unconscious or whatever? It doesn't mean anything. Like I said, my dad used to have a lot of panic attacks and I would sing to him in order to soothe him. It helps, especially if you're as good as me. I can't trust Hudson or Evans here to bring you back to life because they'd probably put you in a coma if they sang to you or whatever." Kristine half heartedly teased, provoking Sam to flip her off from across the room. Rachel's heart warmed a little at the thought that Kristine was selfless enough to check up on her even though she had no reason to. She'd have to convince Devin that Kristine was actually being nice for once and it meant a lot to her so Devin would have to let the punch to the nose go. "I didn't ask why you were singing, you know, but thank you for that very sweet explanation. I appreciate what you did out there because I never experienced anything like that in my life. Thank you." Rachel told her with sincerity. The look on Kristine's face was priceless because one minute she was smiling genuinely at the younger girl and the very next minute, she looked disgusted with herself because someone was thanking her for being nice. That was so not how she rolled these days.

"Yeah okay well don't get used to this because I'm a Cheerio and I don't do charity. So um…yeah, I guess we'll be seeing you around, short stuff. Remember, I'm not usually this nice so take advantage of this get out of jail free card because not many people are able to obtain it. Deuces, Smurfette." Kristine said with a smirk on her face, shooting up the peace sign before she turned around to leave their line of sight. Before she could disappear completely, Rachel called out to her. "You have a very lovely voice, I hope you know that!" With that said, Rachel immensely enjoyed the fact that her compliment caused the other girl's ears to redden up before she continued on her way to class with her snickering friends following her from behind.

After gathering her belongings and making sure she had everything she needed to return to class, Sam and Finn linked arms with her from each side and they walked her out. "Don't worry about Devin; she needs the nap before she pisses herself with rage when she realizes Kristine Hummel knocked her ass out. She was just worried about you, Rachel." Sam assured her as she shared a smile with the singer. Rachel tossed her hair about and simply sighed with relief, grateful that she had friends who showed how much they cared about her despite however long they knew her. With the memories that flooded her earlier before she suffered the minor anxiety attack, she briefly wondered why she would ever want to go back to that world when her experiences in this universe were infinitely better. When she glanced back at Finn as they heard someone mutter rude heterophobic comments when they passed, she realizes it would probably be for the best if she returned to that life she once knew despite the hardships she faced. No matter at what cost, Rachel would try to figure a way back to her old life to end someone else's suffering.


	8. Living in a Lonely World

**Livin' in a Lonely World**

**Notes:** As always, thank you for the continued support! Please read and review; your comments are always appreciated.

After the ordeal she had just gone through the other day, her parents didn't want to take any chances and took Rachel to their doctor to see if there was something more troubling underneath the surface. As predicted, there was nothing they deemed a threat to her mental health much to everyone's relief but he did advise Rachel to continue controlling her stress through appropriate means. Which meant to continue exercising, eating healthy, singing and sticking to her strict routine even though she had no idea why she had an anxiety attack in spite of all the things she had been doing to maintain control. Perhaps she had been stuck in her head for far too long and she simply needed an escape from all this madness. Shelby was being typically overprotective, however, not allowing Rachel out of her sight that evening after they brought her home from the doctor's. Her friends had even called the house and asked Emma permission if they could come over and wish Rachel well but she politely declined, stating that Rachel was just under a lot of pressure and needed a break from her new life. Rachel was absolutely grateful for that. She lay in bed with Shelby snuggling into her from behind and whispering comforting words that she had always wanted to hear from her parents. From the outside, she appeared to be in control of her life but Rachel was tormented on the inside and kept quiet about it for a long time until now.

All the bullying and oppression she faced in the past had gotten to her at some point but she forced herself to keep her composure so she wouldn't expose her vulnerability. It all hurt and it made her heart ache. This time, she found that despite all the complications she faced in this universe, everything hurt less as she felt strong arms wrap around her waist. She felt lonely but everything seemed to be getting better, even if it was just temporary. Rachel allowed herself to revel in the comfort she had desperately craved for years and let herself drown in the love she felt from her mother for the first time. She sighed and closed her eyes, hoping for a better tomorrow and tried not to stress about the things she had to do in order to restore the familiar life she once led back in high school. Her mother sang softly, the lyrics and the sound of her voice soothing her to a deep slumber. She was expecting another dreamless night but for now she was perfectly okay with that. The singer would eventually have to put in more effort in trying to figure out what happened to her; for now, she was perfectly content with the way things were going in this world. She wondered if any of her old friends missed her or if they noticed she was missing? She came to the conclusion that no, none of them noticed nor did they care because why they would was beyond her. To them she was an irritating "nightmare" of a diva that they tolerated because of her talent. Not once had anyone said anything nice about her personality over the years she had known them.

She couldn't help but let a tear fall at the harmful thought; why was she so eager to go back in the first place? Rachel realized she was getting comfortable in this universe, maybe a little too comfortable but it didn't feel wrong to enjoy what she had missed out on during her crucial years in high school. Starting tomorrow, the first thing she would do after she caught Devin's lacrosse game was to find the last teacher that previously ran the glee club to re-establish it once more before she announced audition deadlines. What she found peculiar was the fact that Will Schuster's name was unheard of throughout McKinley; the Spanish teacher was an attractive older male with clean cut blond hair that went by the strange name of Bryan Ryan. Was that the person she had to rely on in order to establish New Directions? She would have to find out soon because this was starting to become overwhelming and she did not want to experience yet another severe anxiety attack.

* * *

The next morning, she was pleasantly surprised to have received a good morning text from both Finn and Sam; she didn't realize they were morning people but nevertheless, it already made her day. She wasn't used to such thoughtfulness before and it was just lovely. Rachel remembers what it was like to be romantically involved with Finn; she heavily focused on taking care of him and supporting him to the point she eventually forgot to take care of herself before realizing he was far too self-centered to care about her. When he did show some signs that he paid attention to her, Finn was insensitive about her issues. It was so nice not having to worry about love triangles, selfish and dimwitted boyfriends, and peers who verbally abused her and attacked her with slushies. One day, she would like to obtain what she once lost but by then, she knew she would be able to handle a relationship while focusing on her career. Rachel snapped out of her daze and quickly returned to her routine after she had finished sending a few texts of her own to her friends. She was thrilled that they seemed to be very enthusiastic about her goals. With their support, she just knew that she would be able to get New Directions up and running again. Nothing was going to stop her from reliving her dreams and making things better this time around. Without Vocal Adrenaline in the way and Jesse St. James to distract her, perhaps she was able to lead her team to Nationals as a sophomore. How impressive would that be?

Spanish class had just ended and Bryan Ryan was in the middle of saying his goodbyes in Spanish flawlessly when Rachel decided to corner him. Her instincts about Mr. Ryan supervising the former glee club were correct according to Sam. He tried rebuilding it again last year but Kristine Hummel and Sue Sylvester had managed to ruin the very idea of it when they manipulated any interested students into participating in activities that were deemed more worthwhile. Without the support of twelve members, Bryan had reluctantly given up hope when he realized there was no way he could fight Sue on it and primarily focused on teaching his Spanish class instead. It seemed to drain him of happiness because the man loved show choir and without a little culture in the school, Sam explained that the unexpected changes with glee killed him a little on the inside. Rachel could sympathize with that because she had no idea what she would be doing with her life if she didn't insist on following her dreams through and through with the support of Glee and students who were just as passionate about it as she was. The singer observed that he appeared normal; a small smile on his face, his impeccable sense of fashion and the way he spoke to his students indicating that he was indeed approachable.

Sam nudged Rachel in the ribs and forced her to walk alongside of her so she could introduce the diva to the former show choir director. When Bryan noticed that his former pupil entered his classroom, Rachel couldn't help but notice the fallen expression on his face. She just needed to convince him that this was an opportunity he couldn't afford to miss out on and she would just have to prove how good she was to lead a brand new group of energetic and enthusiastic gleeks. "Samantha Evans, it's a pleasure to see you again. I don't seem to have you in any of my classes this year so what can I help you with?" He asked politely as he looked over to Rachel who in turn smiled shyly at the handsome teacher. The lacrosse player rolled her eyes and presented her fist so they could bump fists and through this action, Bryan eased up but only a little. "Sup, Bryan. This is my good friend, Rachel Berry, she just transferred to this shit hole well over a week ago and we have an interesting proposition for you. I know it's like totally forbidden to talk about this with you but you have to trust me on this. Rachel comes from a school where her glee club made it to Nationals and actually won and now that she's here, she wants to establish a glee club here but we really need a director. She's even better than she-who-must-not-be-named." Sam said confidently, standing her ground even when Bryan flinched at the suggestion and glared at the younger girl.

"We're not on a first name basis here, Miss Evans. What gives you the right to approach me out of nowhere to touch on a subject I really, really loathe thinking back on? Glee is over with, Sam. Hummel and that grouchy old_ bitch_ made damn sure of that and because of its reputation, nobody in their right mind would want to join again even if it were made possible. As nice as it was to meet you, Rachel, I'm going to have to ask you two to leave. You transferred to the wrong school if you came here expecting diversity, open-mindedness, and freedom to self-expression. You're nothing if you're not a jock or cheerleader as sickening as it is to say, it's the truth." He says with resignation as he begins to collect his belongings. Rachel's jaw dropped at what had just been said by a man who is supposed to be an educator. Sam shakes her head disapprovingly and tries to drag Rachel out of the classroom by the elbow but the smaller girl refuses to budge. "It's no use, Rachel. He gave up; we're just going to have find somebody else who's willing to support your dreams." Sam says softly although the singer wasn't listening. Rachel was not going to just stand idly by and watch this kind of negative attitude run rampant throughout the school. It had to change somehow; there was no way she was going to miss out on making a positive impact upon this universe.

"Mr. Ryan, if I may ever be so bold to say that was the most immature and ridiculous thing I've ever heard anyone ever say. You clearly lack the drive and enthusiasm to fight for what's right and I have to be honest and say that's a damn shame. From what I've heard about Intonation Proclivity, you and your students had so much potential but because of a simple mistake anyone else could have made, you let the glee club fall to pieces and did nothing to discourage your students from bullying your best female lead singer. You did nothing to stop it and that's why your glee club failed. You gave up and when you attempted to resurrect what was so important to you, you didn't even bother fighting the oppression you faced. Glee is about opening yourself up to joy and to let others easily take that away from you, it shows weakness and I feel sorry for you. I guess I'll just have to find another teacher to sponsor our club. Have a good afternoon." Rachel said with a smug grin on her face as she turned to walk the other way. She knew it was a low blow to use someone else's insecurities against them, but sometimes that inspired greater strength within an individual.

"H-how do you know so much about what happened?" He asked, almost inaudibly. The hushed sound caused Sam and Rachel to stop in their tracks. They both slowly turned to face the former show choir director and he held a serious expression on his face. His eyes were glistening and Rachel knew she struck a nerve. The singer explained to Bryan that Sam and several other students shared stories about glee's former glory days before it all ended on bad terms. She understood exactly how he felt about Glee because of her past experiences and she knew that it wasn't okay to just lie down and take the abuse. "I was the captain of my glee club and while it was my responsibility to lead them to victory through personal growth, I was also being selfish and focused on my own talent rather than helping my team develop. My former mentor taught me the importance of that and knowing what ended up happening over here, I just thought I'd give you some input. I really, really hope you change your mind about establishing glee because I can see how much it meant to you." Rachel told him, offering a gentle smile as she patted him on the back. Bryan seemed to be in deep thought before he glanced back at the younger girl standing before him. "You're really intelligent and insightful for a girl your age. Do you want to know what makes me feel better after I've been feeling really down for quite some time? Singing; if you'd like, you could join me if you know the lyrics."

_Smile though your heart is aching__  
__Smile even though it's breaking__  
__When there are clouds in the sky__  
__You'll get by__  
__If you smile through your pain and sorrow__  
__Smile and maybe tomorrow__  
__You'll see the sun come shining through_

Rachel knew this song by heart and almost immediately, her voice complimented his as they gracefully sung the _Charlie Chaplin_ song. Sam watched with absolute awe as she heard her teacher's voice for the first time in over two years. The lacrosse player eventually joined with them and the trio made the song sound powerful in more ways than Bryan Ryan could ever have imagined. He was clearly impressed with Rachel's talent and he was glad to see that his star pupil still had it in her even though it had been a long time since they sang together. "That was…that was superb, girls. I hadn't felt like this in awhile and you know what? It sounded great. Sam, thank you for coming by and seeing me. I needed that, it's been so long but even so that was amazing. Rachel, it was a pleasure meeting you. Thank you. I know Mr. Figgins will be reluctant to meet with me about this particular issue because of what happened in the past but I'm more than willing to put in some of my own funds into supporting this group, with my husband's support of course. Let me meet with him and let him know what's going on. Then I'm going to need your help in convincing the student body into joining our club once it's been established. You think you can do that for me?" He asked. Both Sam and Rachel exchanged an excited look before the smaller girl replied enthusiastically.

"I've already got that covered, Mr. Schu- er, Mr. Ryan. Based on what I've seen at this school when it comes to the unethical treatment of heterosexuals and students who are considered inferior to the popular kids, I believe that potential prospects of our glee club need hope and assurance that it's okay to be themselves. They need to be around positive people who, in their own ways, are struggling to make ends meet but in no way condone hatred towards one another because of petty differences. I already have the perfect song in mind to cover for the assembly we'll be holding shortly after you meet with Figgins. Sam and I will be busy recruiting a small group for the time being until then if that sounds okay with you, sir." Rachel said in one breath, astounding even Sam who stared at her wide eyed. Bryan himself seemed speechless after that but he nodded his head approvingly anyway. He trusted Sam with his life and although the new girl gave the impression that she was incredibly odd, he felt that she was clearly experienced enough to handle this type of situation on her own. "Alright then, that sounds reasonable to me. Okay, well I should know by this afternoon of what's to become of glee but for now, I suggest keeping quiet about it. I'll talk to you girls about it tomorrow and we'll work towards getting this whole thing organized. Now get going!" Bryan told them, excitedly clasping his hands together before shooing them away.

Sam and Rachel were walking towards the cafeteria when Rachel realized she had no idea who or how to approach any potential newcomers who would be interested in joining glee. Sam appeared to have read her mind and stopped the singer in the middle of the hallway with a smirk on her face. "For once, I actually feel more prepared than you, Rachie B. I talked to a few people who used to be in the glee club and I may or may not have stalked them while I was investigating. There may or may not have been sightings of penises and vaginas but I digress; we're holding our own auditions in the auditorium this afternoon before my game against Carmel High today, which you are so going to watch. What do you say buddy ol' pal?" Sam asked, playfully slugging Rachel in the arm who dramatically flinched from the sudden attack. Rachel laughed, thankful that she had connections through Samantha who seemed passionate about glee just as much as she was. Of course the singer nodded and the two close friends continued making their way towards the cafeteria to meet up with their usual group. It didn't take long for Bryan Ryan to convince Figgins to establish the glee club again but under certain conditions of course. Conditions Mr. Ryan was unwilling to disclose right away but if they didn't meet proper criteria according to the show choir rule book, then they would be forced to shut down if they didn't have a proper turnout for Invitationals. Rachel wasn't worried.

That afternoon when she entered the auditorium with Sam following closely, she wasn't that surprised when she realized the people Sam had been talking about were their friends. She was still happy that they had quite an impressive turnout for their auditions but she was simply glad that her friends were so supportive of something that meant a lot to Rachel. "Yo, Finny D, you're up first. If you're nervous, you can just picture both Rachel and I in our underwear. It'll help ease your mind." Sam flirted as she winked at the startled boy standing before them on stage. Rachel giggled when she saw how red Finn had become at the comment but it didn't take him very long to regain his composure. His voice was beautiful as it had been in her previous life and she thoroughly enjoyed his rendition of '_Can't Fight This Feeling'_. She always believed that Finn could be a rock star if he pushed himself to pursue that career. He was an excellent drummer and he had a lovely voice for classic rock; it just seemed so fitting. Although certain genders had been swapped, everybody she recognized as her friend from her previous life proved to be just as talented in this alternate universe. She especially enjoyed Tyler Cohen-Chang's performance of _'I Kissed a Boy_'. It was raunchy and explicit but it was so typically Tina/Tyler. It was perfect. Marley Rose exceeded Rachel's expectations and it almost caused jealousy to arise within the girl but she forced it down; the girl's performance was simply too beautiful to be ruined by conflicted emotions.

Amongst the laughter, inane chatter, and singing, there was somebody quietly hiding in the shadows watching the group from a far with a judgmental look upon their face. Kristine Hummel had been leaning against the railing on the upper level of the auditorium, watching the scene unfold before her with aggravated interest. So the rumors were true; Rachel and Sam Evans managed to get the glee club up and running again with the help of her former mentor, Bryan Ryan. Kristine wasn't sure how she felt about the situation. Her heart still sung with pain at the memories that flooded her mind when she saw how happy and carefree everybody looked. Although she tries to convince herself that she's better off without that shitty club hanging over her head, she can't help but miss being apart of something special. She misses her friends, the people who saw her for who she really was and still accepted her friendship. The bitter Cheerio sighs, but nearly jumps out of her own skin when she feels somebody randomly poking her in the ribs. "There you are, Hummel. We've been looking all over for you. The fuck you doin' creeping around back here anyway?" Norah asked, craning her neck so she could get a good view of whatever it was that caught Kristine's interest.

Kristine's eyes darted back and forth between the potential gleeks and Rachel, who sat comfortably in her chair exchanging flirtatious banter with Sam before paying the prospects a bit of her attention. This wasn't settling well with her. She was beginning to feel nauseous from being in this room, reminding her of things she promised herself that she would stop thinking about. Kristine loathed the idea of a brand new glee club because without her, it was nothing. It should be nothing, but now it was quickly becoming something because of that Rachel Berry girl. She had to put a stop to it or better yet, bring it down somehow. "Kristine, you've got it bad for the new girl. You need to admit you have a problem. Just ask her out already, you're a freakin' Cheerio. Who could ever say no to you?" Norah teased, unintentionally irritating the cheer leading captain further. Kristine shoved Norah aside and ignored her, walking towards the nearest exit before she vomited and alerted the gleeks below. "I think it's best if you leave me alone, Norah. I skipped practice today, Sue's gonna be on my ass but I need you to cover for me please. I'll see you later." She whispered, suppressing the tears that threatened to spill. She wasn't lying exactly; she really wasn't feeling well. Kristine didn't want to admit that the cause of the sudden onset of her illness was due to the fact for a minute there, she actually longed to be apart of that group. What made it worse was the fact that her worst fears had been confirmed; she had been developing a slight crush on Berry. The more she thought about her, accidentally interacted with her and observed her, she was starting to see why she was so different from the other girls. It should be sickening, but it wasn't. It should be wrong, but it wasn't. Maybe if she wronged the petite girl somehow, it would go away.

She wanted it to go away.

When Kristine disappeared from view, Norah hesitated for a moment. While it was very unusual for her best friend to skip out on practice, she wanted to see what had gotten her so worked up. Norah peeked over the railing and smirked, quickly figuring out what pissed Kristine off so badly. Samantha Evans, Kristine's former best friend, was smiling and laughing along with Rachel. The attractive blond had gone as far as touching Rachel and being overly affectionate with the smaller girl which must have set Kristine off. Sam and Kristine had a weakness for the same types of girls which caused a lot of problems in their friendship in the past. Kristine wasn't one for sharing, even if it was over a crush. Norah grinned and quietly walked out of the auditorium, thinking of clever schemes to simultaneously piss her best friend off and motivate her to go after what she wanted.


End file.
